UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 

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00022085057 


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WHEN  SHE  WAS  SEWING  I  JUMPED   UPON   HER    SHOULDER.      {Pa?'  U-) 


THE 

CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS 


OR 


KING    GRIMALKUM 

BY   ABBY   MORTON   DIAZ 

PROFUSEL  Y  ILL  USTRA  TED 
BY  FRANCIS,  BOZ,  PALMER  COX,  AND  OTHERS 


BOSTON 

D.    LOTHROP    COMPANY 


Copyright,  1881, 

BY 

D.  Lothrop  Company. 


CONTENTS. 


King  Grimalkum  and  Pussyanita 

The  Story  of  Pinky  White  . 

The  Story  of  Black  Velvet 

What  Snow  Ball  told 

Madame  Pussy  Hunter's  Story 

The  Spry  White  Kitten's  Story 

Mrs.  Beulah  Black's  Story 

Tweedledum  and  Tweedledee 

Story  of  Mistress  Tabby  Furpurr 

The  Story  of  the  Feeble  Cat  and  her  Nine  Lives 

The  Story  of  the  two  Charcoals  and  the  four  Spekkums 

The  Story  of  the  Janjibo  and  of  the  Frog  and  the  Rat 

What  the  Mother  Rat  told         ..... 

A  Spinning  Story  ....... 

The  Blind  Mice  Story  ...... 

The  Air  Ball  Story      ....... 


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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://www.archive.org/details/catsarabiannightOOdiaz 


HOW  IT  HAPPENED. 


One  evening  when  a  company  of  children  and  older  people  were 
looking  at  funny  cat-pictures  and  telling  cat-stories,  a  little  ten- 
year-old  girl  asked:  "  Why  can  there  not  be  a  Cats' Arabian  Nights 
Story  Book  ?  " 

"  Theie  would  have  to  be  a  Cat  King,  or  Emperor,  or  Sultan," 
said  her  next  older  sister. 

"  And  a  Cat  Queen,  or  Empress,  or  Sultaness,"  said  their  cousin 
Joe,  the  sailor. 

"  And  she  would  have  to  go  on,  and  on,  and  on,  and  on,  and  on, 
and  on,  and  on,  telling  stories  in  order  to  save  her  own  life,"  said 
their  cousin  Lucia. 

"  I  propose,"  said  uncle  Fred,  "  that  cousin  Lucia  put  together  a 
Cats'  Arabian  Nights  for  little  children,  and  have  it  ready  to  read 
to  our  little  children  when  they  all  shall  come  next  summer  with 
their  fathers  and  mothers." 

11  Oh  yes  !  Yes  !  Do  !  Pray  do  !  Won't  you  do  it  ?  Say  you 
will !     Say  you  will  !  "  cried  many  voices. 

41 1  think  it  will  be  fun  to  do  it,"  said  cousin  Lucia,  "  if  you  allow 
me  to  put  in  some  make  believe  and  nonsense,  if  I  want  to." 

"  Certainly !  "  was  the  cry.  "  Put  in  anything.  Anything  you 
please ! " 

Cousin  Lucia  said  she  was  willing  to  try,  and  thus  it  happened 
that  the  summer-children  and  others  got  a  story  book  beginning, 
as  all  story  books  should  begin,  with  —  once  upon  a  time. 


KING    GRIMALKUM    AND    PUSSYANITA; 

OR, 

THE   CATS'  ARABIAN    NIGHTS. 


>SkP- 


NCE  upon    a  time  the  aged  Tommo 
fe  bus,    King   of  the  Cats,  went   forth  a 
^fi^J?    hunting  and   returned   with  a  wound 
^K?     which  caused  his  death.      So  Tom  mo- 
bus  died  and  Grim alkum  the  Powerful 
became  King  in  his  stead. 
King    Grimalkum    was    of    course   jet    black    all  over 
without  a  single  white  hair,  or  he  could  not  have  been 
made  king,  and  his  eyes  were  of  the  true  royal  yellow. 

The  first  act  of  King  Grimalkum's  reign  was  one  of 
cruelty.  He  sent  forth  an  order  declaring  that  black, 
maltese,  and  gray,  were  the  only  colors  to  be  allowed  for 
cats,  and  that  all  cats  which  were  white  or  yellow,  or 
which  had  more   white  or  yellow   hairs   than    dark  ones 


io  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

should  not  be  permitted  to  live.     Judges  were  appointed 
to  measure  the  spots. 

This  order  caused  great  affright  among  the  lighter 
cats.  The  wholly  white  and  wholly  yellow  hid  them- 
selves or  fled  to  distant  places,  and  the  partly  white  and 
partly  yellow  went  in  haste  to  have  their  dark  spots 
measured  by  the  judges. 

Among  those  who  came  before  the  judges  was  Pussy- 
anita,  a  beautiful  creature  just  out  of  kittenhood.  Her 
playfulness  and  sweet  disposition  made  her  beloved  by  all. 

Alas  !  it  was  soon  made  known  by  the  judges  that  the 
dark  of  Pussyanita  measured  many  less  hairs  than  her 
white  ones.  This  caused  great  sorrow,  and  King  Grimal- 
kum  was  begged  to  spare  her  life. 

"  Spare  her  life !  Not  if  she  were  twenty  Pussy- 
anitas  !  "  cried  the  King ;  which  was  a  foolish  answer, 
since  she  could  not  have  been  twenty  Pussyanitas,  or  even 
nineteen. 

Now  this  sweet  and  gentle  creature  was  so  much 
beloved,  that  no  one  could  be  found  willing  to  hurt  a 
single  hair  of  her.  When  King  Grimalkum  heard  this 
he  became  furious  with  anger,  and  commanded  that  she 
be  brought  to  him  at  once,  saying  that  he  himself  would 
attend  to  the  business,  and  make  quick  work  of  it.  So 
the  lovely  Pussyanita  was  brought  before  the  King. 


OR  THE   CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  n 

Her  loveliness  did  not  soften  his  heart;  on  the  contrary 
he  was  made  more  furious  than  ever  by  seeing  that  she 
sat  licking  her  fur  as  quietly  as  if  sitting  in  her  own 
sunny  garden  spot. 

"  What  are  you  doing  that  for,  you  silly  thing?"  he 
cried.  "  Don't  you  know  you  have  but  a  few  moments 
to  live?" 

"Yes,  your  majesty,"  replied  the  lovely  Pussyanita, 
"  but  I  cannot  endure  a  speck  of  dirt,  and  with  good 
reason,  for  in  me  you  see  a  descendant,  and  great,  great, 
great,  great,  great,  twenty-seven  times  great  grandchild 
of  the  unhappy  and  happy  Pinky-white.  Your  majesty 
must  have  heard  of  Pinky-white." 

"  Never,"  said  the  king,  sternly.  "  But  why  do  you  call 
her  unhappy  and  happy  ?     There  is  no  sense  in  that." 

"  She  was  not  unhappy  and  happy  at  the  same  time," 
said  Pussyanita.  "  She  was  first  unhappy  and  afterwards 
happy." 

"  How  was  that  ?  "  asked  the  king.  "  And  supposing 
you  are  the  great,  great,  great,  great,  great,  twenty-seven 
times  great  granddaughter  of  Pinky-white,  what  has  that 
to  do  with  your  being  unable  to  endure  a  speck  of  dirt  ?  " 

Said  the  lovely  Pussyanita,  "  It  would  give  me  pleasure, 
your  majesty,  to  explain  why  my  great,  great,  great,  great, 
great,    twenty-seven   times    great  grandmother  was    first 


T2  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

unhappy,  and  why  she  was  afterwards  happy,  also  suppos- 
ing I  am  the  great,  great,  great,  great,  great,  twenty-seven 
times  great  granddaughter  of  Pinky-white,  what  that  has 
to  do  with  my  being  unable  to  endure  a  speck  of  dirt ;  it 
would  give  me  pleasure,  I  say,  to  explain  all  this,  but  it 
would  take  a  longer  time  than  I  have  to  live." 

"  Time  shall  be  granted  you,"  said  the  king,  "  for  I  am 
curious  to  know  why  your  great,  great,  great,  great,  great, 
twenty-seven  times  great  grandmother  Pinky-white  was 
unhappy  and  why  she  was  happy,  and  to  know  why  your 
being  her  great,  great,  great,  great,  great,  twenty-seven 
times  great  granddaughter  should  be  a  reason  why  you 
are  unable  to  endure  a  speck  of  dirt." 

"  At  your  majesty's  request,"  replied  Pussyanita,  "I 
will  tell  you  the  story  of  my  great,  great,  great,  great, 
great,  twenty-seven  times  great  grandmother  Pinky-white, 
as  she  herself  told  it,  when  ordered  to  do  so,  at  Lady 
Yellowpaw's  famous  party." 

"  Stop  !  "  cried  the  king.  "  Why  was  your  great,  great, 
great,  great,  great,  twenty-seven  times  great  grandmother 
Pinky-white  ordered  to  tell  her  story  at  Lady  Yellow-paw's 
famous  party?  Who  was  Lady  Yellow-paw?  Why  was 
her  party  famous  ?  " 

"  Please  your  majesty,"  replied  Pussyanita,  "  I  shall  be 
happy  to  explain  to  your  majesty  who  was  Lady  Yellow- 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


K\ 


paw,  and  why  her  party  was  famous,  and  why  my  great, 
great,  great,  great,  great,  twenty-seven  times  great  grand- 
mother Pinky-white  was  ordered  to  tell  her  story  at  that 
party,  but  your  majesty  must  perceive  that  to  do  all  this 
will  require  much  time." 

" Begin  then!"  cried  the  king.  "Begin  with  your 
Lady  Yellow-paw  and  her  famous  party,  and  then  go  on  to 
your  twenty-seven  times  great  grandmother ;  and  do  not 
waste  time  waiting  or  waste  words  in  the  telling." 

The  lovely  Pussyanita  bowed  and  began  with  Lady 
Yellow-paw  and  her  famous  party,  and  then  went  on  to  tell 
the  story  of  Pinky-white  as  told. by  herself  at  that  frmous 
party. 


a^-^MS^ 


THE  STORY  OF  PINKY-WHITE. 

"  The  first  that  I  knew  of  myself,  I  found  myself  by 
the  side  of  my  mother,  among  some  hay  in  a  basket 
along  with  three  other  kittens  of  my  own  age  and  size. 
Two  of  our  number  were  quickly  stolen  from  us.  It  will 
thus  be  seen  that  I  had  scarcely  begun  to  live  before  I 
began  to  be  unhappy.  As  I  grew  older  I  became  more 
and  more  unhappy,  for  the  place  was  cold,  the  floor  was 
hard,  our  mother  cuffed  us,  and  girl-Mary,  who  owned 
us,  knew  not  the  best  way  of  stroking. 

"  One  day  when  girl-Mary  sat  by  our  basket,  girl-Jane 
came  down  there  bringing  her  own  cat  and  kittens.  Girl- 
Jane  had  called  to  see  us  many  times,  and  I  had  been 
pleased  with  the  looks  of  her  face,  and  the  sounds  of  her 
voice,  and  the  touches  of  her  fingers  ;  and  she  knew  the 
best  way  of  stroking. 

"Girl-Jane  was  smaller  than  girl-Mary,  but  she  knew 


GIRL-JANE   AND    GIRL-MARY. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  17 

more.  Girl-Jane  said  she  wanted  girl-Mary  to  change 
kittens  with  her.  She  wanted  me  and  Minnie  because 
we  were  whiter  than  her  kittens. 

" '  No,  Jane,'  said  girl-Mary,  '  I  can't  change,  for  you 
know  mine  are  all  named,  and  besides  your  cat  would 
not  like  it.  She  knows  what  we  are  talking  about. 
Don't  you  see  how  anxious  she  looks?' 

"It  made  me  unhappy  to  hear  this.  I  wanted  to  go 
with  girl-Jane,  away  from  the  cold  place,  and  the  hard 
floor,  and  my  cross  mother  and  be  stroked  the  best  way. 
Minnie  too  wished  to  go.  She  cried  when  girl-Mary 
gave  back  the  other  kittens.  As. for  me,  I  could  only 
turn  away  and  hide  my  sorrowful  face. 

"  My  next  unhappiness  was  the  unhappiness  of  being 
whipped  with  a  rod.  An  old  lady  wished  for  a  cat  to 
catch  her  mice  and  thought  she  would  take  a  kitten 
and  teach  it  to  behave  well.  I  was  carried  to  her  home. 
I  had  here  a  warm  place,  and  a  carpet,  and  the  old  lady 
did  not  stroke  at  all,  so  that  I  was  not  made  unhappy 
by  bad  stroking.  But  my  unhappiness  was  great,  on 
account  of  the  rod.  It  was  rod  here  and  rod  there ;  rod 
on  the  pantry  shelf  and  rod  on  the  chair-cushion ;  rod 
on  the  parlor  sofa  and  rod  on  the  best  bed;  rod  at  the 
milk  pitcher,  and  rod  at  the  custard-pie. 

"A  greater  unhappiness  must  now  be  told.     For  this 


i8 


KING  GRJMALKUM  AND  PUSSYAN11A. 


greater  unhappiness  was  the  cause  of  another  unhappi- 
ness  even  greater  than  this  —  oh,  very  much  greater! 
It  was  the  cause  of  a  long  and  dreadful  unhappiness  in 
which  I  nearly  starved  to  death.  It  was  something 
which  would  make  any  and  every  cat  unhappy.  It 
was  this.  I  could  not  catch  well.  Mice,  birds,  moles, 
bats,  squirrels,  rabbits,  almost  always  got  away  from 
me.     I  think  I  must  have  been  born  short-clawed. 

"  In  a  corner  of  the 
garden  was  a  chicken- 
coop.  This  chicken- 
coop  was  well  made 
for  catching.  It 
would  seem  that  all 
a  cat  need  do  was 
to  lie  quietly  on  top, 
looking  over  the 
edge,  and  when  a 
chicken  popped  out, 
spring  and  catch  it.  Any  other  cat  would  have  done 
all  this.  The  next  house  cat  did  do  all  this.  I  did  not 
do  all  this.  I  lay  quietly  on  top  of  the  chicken-coop.  I 
looked  over  the  edge,  and  when  a  chicken  popped  out 
I  sprang.  I  did  everything  the  next  house  cat  did 
except  to  catch  the  chicken. 


WELL    MADE    FOR   CATCHING. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


19 


"  I  had  the  same  luck  in  fishing.  There  was  a  stream 
at  the  bottom  of  our  garden  and  at  its  edge  were  large 
mossy  rocks  on  which 
a  cat  might  stretch 
herself  in  the  sun,  or 
if  the  day  were  hot 
she  might  lie  in  their 
cool  shade.  Trees 
grew  near  by  and  any 
other  cat  would  have 
often  caught  a  bird 
among  their  branches. 
The  next  house  cat 
did  this.  I  did  not 
do  this.  Any  othei 
cat  than  myself  would 
have  now  and  then 
caught  a  fish  in  the  stream  at  the  foot  of  the  rocks.  The 
next  house  cat  did  this.  I  did  not  do  this.  I  often 
lay  close  to  the  water — as  shown  how  to  do  by  the 
next  house  cat,  and  watched  the  fishes  as  they  glided 
past.  When  one  rose  to  the  top  I  did  my  best  to  catch 
it,  but  even  did  I  have  the  luck  to  touch  one,  it  was 
sure  to  slip  out  and  away.  I  used  to  think  sometimes 
that    if    fishes    had    not  been  made  so  slippery  I  could 


I    DID    MY    BEST. 


20 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


have  held  on,  but  then  the  next  house  cat  held  on  to 
slippery  fishes.  I  am  almost  sure  I  must  have  been 
born  short-clawed. 

"As  for  squirrels  and  rabbits,  they  seemed  at  last  to 
be  not  a  bit  afraid  of  me,  even  when  I  had  become  a 
full-grown  cat.  One  saucy  squirrel  used  to  tease  me  by 
coming  very  near  and  then  darting  out  of  my  reach. 
This  squirrel  became  very  bold.  He  even  popped 
in  at   the  doors  and  windows.     One   day    when     I    was 

asleep  on  the  sofa 
by  the  library  win- 
dow, he  ran  as  near 
me  as  the  back  of 
the  sofa  —  bold  little 
thing!  and  by  the 
time  I  had  turned 
over  he  was  out  of 
the  window,  and  I 
soon  got  sight  of  his 
bushy  tail  whisking 
through  the  tall  tree- 
tops,  and  of  his  little  bright  eyes  looking  down  at  me 
through  the  leaves.  He  would  not  have  got  away  so 
easilv  from  the  next  house  cat.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
but  ti  at  I  must  have  been  born  short-clawed. 


BOLD    LITTLE   THING  ! 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


21 


"  The  next  house  cat  caught  mice.  I  did  not.  I  might 
have  caught  some  had  not  the  mouse-holes  been  made 
so  small.  But  then  the  next  house  cat  had  the  same 
kind  of  mouse-holes  I  had. 

"  Sometimes  I  thought  if  I  had  been  a  Tabby  I  might 


THE    NEXT    HOUSE   CAT 


have  caught  as  well  as  the  next  house  cat.      But  then  I 
could  not  be  a  Tabby. 

"  One  day  —  oh  unhappy  day  !  the  next  house  cat's  mis- 
tress came  to  see  my  mistress,  and  they  talked  of  cats. 


22  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYAN1TA. 

I  lay  outside  under  the  open  window  and  heard  every 
word,  and  understood.  Mistresses,  as  you  very  well 
know,  dear  Lady  Yellow-paw  —  as  all  of  you  at  this 
famous  party  very  well  know — mistresses  have  no  idea 
how  much  their  cats  can  understand. 

"  Said  my  mistress,  '  Pinky-white  is  the  neatest  cat  that 
ever  was  seen.  She  will  have  no  dirt  on  her  fur.  She 
licks  off  every  speck.  She  keeps  herself  snow  white. 
And  I  have  taught  her  to  behave  well.  I  no  longer 
keep  a  rod.     But  she  catches  no  mice.' 

"'You  feed  her  too  well,'  said  the  next  house-cat's 
mistress.  '  Send  her  to  Miss  Rhody  and  get  you  a 
mouser.  Miss  Rhody  is  out  of  a  cat  and  is  waiting  to 
find  a  neat  one.  Miss  Rhody  has  managed  cats  these 
forty  years  and  knows  how  to  do  it.  Miss  Rhody  never 
feeds  a  cat.     If  it  won't  catch  mice  she  drowns  it.' 

'"  I  will  send  Pinky-white  to  Miss  Rhody  to-morrow/ 
said  my  mistress. 

"This  frightened  me.  Oh  what  should  I  do  ?  What 
could  I  do?  In  my  agony  of  distress  I  ran  round  and 
round  in  a  circle  in  the  potato  patch,  tore  up  the  squash 
vines,  and  at  last  I  sprang  over  the  high  wall,  and  in  that 
house  and  garden  I  was  never  seen  more. 

"Then  began  the  terrible  unhappiness  of  my  life.  No 
tongue  can  tell  what  I  suffered.     Hiding  behind  fences, 


sBsMmiMSISi 


:l     '11™-  ■«  -1 


v'.y  S^^>  ' 

'"Wf -<>  "t-v  .;■..- 


t-«iri±i2;' 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  25 

under  barns,  in  empty  pig-styes,  empty  hen-houses  ;  being 
driven  from  back  doors,  hooted  at  by  boys,  barked  at  by 
dogs,  and  hungry,  hungry,  hungry,  oh  so  hungry!  —  for  I 
could  not  catch  well  —  and  always  dirty !  Ah !  none 
who  have  not  felt  it  can  know  the  unhappiness  of  a  cat 
without  a  home  ! 

"  One  night  I  thought  surely  I  should  taste  a  bit  of  meat. 
A  black  and  white  kitten  kindly  told  me  of  a  large  bone 
she  had  seen  in  a  yard,  and  we  scampered  to  that  yard. 
But  alas  !  three  others  were  already  gnawing  the  bone 
and  there  was  nothing  on  the  bone,  for  a  tommy  cat  had 
kept  the  others  away  till  he  had  eaten  off  all  the  meat 
and  then  he  sat  seeing  them  gnaw  the  bare  bone.  I  did 
not  gnaw.     I  did  not  wish  to  gnaw  bare  bone. 

"  One  day  a  dreadful  thing  happened  to  me.  It  was 
when  I  was  hungrier  than  I  had  ever  been  before,  though 
I  had  been  very  hungry.  I  was  so  hungry  I  thought  I 
could  not  live,  and  I  went  into  the  fields  to  try  to  catch 
something.  It  was  a  silly  thing  for  me  to  try  to  catch  a 
rat  when  I  was  short-clawed. 

"  I  did.  A  great  rat  went  into  a  field  and  I  thought,  oh  if 
I  could  only  get  that  rat !    I  must  have  that  rat!     I  must! 

"  I  put  myself  down  flat  and  crept  behind  that  rat. 
He  went  creeping  through  some  wheat  and  corn  and 
I  crept  behind,  quicker  than  he,  for  I  could  creep  quicker. 


26  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

He  went  up  a  large  stalk  to  his  nest.  I  sprang  up  and 
grabbed  him,  but  alas!  I  could  not  take  good  hold  and 
he  got  away  and  sprang  at  me  and  the  mother  rat  sprang 
out  at  me  and  they  bit  me,  and  would  have  killed  me,  but 
I  got  away  and  ran  with  all  my  might,  and  lay  down 
under  some  bushes,  and  pretty  soon  that  same  black  and 
white  kitten  came  and  licked  the  blood  off  me  and 
brought  me  a  mole  to  eat,  or  I  never  should  have 
stirred  from  that  spot. 

"  As  the  weather  grew  colder  I  suffered  more  and 
more.     I  longed  for  a  home. 

"  Often  at  evening  I  ran  behind  persons  hoping  to  be 
invited  to  their  houses,  but  they  always  drove  me  back. 

"  During:  all  this  time  I  was  obliged  to  endure  the  dis- 
tress  of  knowing  that  my  fur  was  not  perfectly  clean. 

"  When  winter  came  my  unhappiness  was  greater  than 
it  had  ever  been  before,  though  it  had  already  been  very 
great. 

"But  one  day,  oh  joyful  day!  my  unhappiness  came  to 
an  end,  oh  joyful  end !     I  will  tell  how  this  happened. 

"  The  ground  was  covered  with  snow7,  slosh  and  mud. 
1  had  been  running  hither  and  thither,  under  barns,  in 
coal  cellars,  and  in  other  places  trying  to  catch  some- 
thing, but  having  had  the  misfortune,  as  I  have  already 
told  your  ladyship,  the  misfortune  of  being  born  short- 


HE   WENT    UP   A    LARGE    STALK    TO    HIS    NEST. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


29 


Begrimed   with    dirt, 


clawed,  I  had  caught  nothing 
hungry,  cold,  for- 
lorn, I  was  on  my 
way  to  my  jump- 
ing spot.  This  was 
the  corner  of  a  wall 
near  a  back  door. 
It  was  also  near  to 
some  bushes  and 
trees  all  snugly 
fenced  in,  and  un- 
der these  I  had  of- 
ten hid  myself  and 
tried  to  clean  my 
fur  and  watched 
for  the  back  door 
to  open.  I  called  it 
my  jumping  spot 
because  s  o  m  e- 
times  I  jumped 
from  that  spot  and 
got  in  at  the  back 
door  and  snatched 
a    bit     from     the  TH£  KIND  MAIDEN" 

plate  of  the  cat  which  belonged  to  the  house.    Sometimes  * 


jo  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSY  ANITA. 

kind  maiden  had  thrown  me  scraps  from  one  of  the  windows. 

"  Now  just  as  I  was  to  jump  from  my  jumping 
spot  I  saw  this  kind  maiden  coming  down  the  steps. 
She  had  her  pet  kitten  in  her  arms  and  was  tend- 
ing it  with  care.  'Oh  pet  kitten!  pet  kitten!'  I 
mewed  to  it.  '  How  little  you  know  the  unhappiness  of  a 
cat  without  a  home  ! '  Mewing  this,  I  hung  my  tail  and 
was  slinking  out  of  sight  when  I  heard  these  words. 

'"Puss!  Puss!  Pussy!  Pussy!  Puss!'  How  I  wished 
I  could  think  they  were  spoken  to  me  !  '  Pussy  !  Poor 
Pussy!  Here  Pussy!'  I  turned  my  head,  but  kept 
moving.  '  Pussy  !  Pussy  !  Pussy  !  Puss  !  Poor  Pussy  ! 
Pussy!  Pussy!    Here  Pussy!    Poor  Pussy!'     I  stopped. 

" '  Pussy  I  Here  Pussy  !  come  Pussy  ! ' 

"  Yes  !  they  were— they  were  spoken  to  me  !  She  was 
looking  at  me !  '  Good  old  Pussy !  come  here,  good 
old  Pussy ! ' 

"  She  held  out  her  hand.  I  dared  not  go.  She  went  in 
and  placed  a  saucer  of  milk  on  the  kitchen  hearth,  called 
me  and  left  the  door  open,  and  went  to  another  room.  I 
crept  in  to  the  hearth,  and  lapped,  lapped,  lapped,  oh  how 
I  did  lap!     No  tongue  can  tell  the  sweetness  of  that  milk! 

"As  soon  as  I  had  eaten  the  milk  I  examined  the 
things  in  the  room,  then  I  rolled  over  and  over  on  the 
door  mat  to  get  the  coal  dust  off,  then  I  sat  on  the  hearth 


nT"  - 


'"'liU'lf"      ^ 


SHF     rOOK    VF    UP 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  33 

and  licked  myself  clean.  The  cook  came  in  and  shook 
the  broom  at  me  and  cried:  'Scat!  Scat!'  Just  then 
the  kind  maiden  showed  her  face  at  the  door.  '  Here's  a 
strange  cat ! '  the  cook  said  to  her.  '  We  don't  want 
another  cat ! ' 

"  '  Why  !  how  white  and  clean  she  has  made  herself,' 
said  the  maiden.  '  She  is  a  neat  cat.  I  have  often  seen 
her  cleaning  herself  out  under  the  bushes.  I  mean  tc 
keep  her.     She  is  just  the  cat  for  poor  Ellen.' 

"  I  went  and  rubbed  against  her  clothes,  rubbed  hard,  and 
tried  to  purr  loud  enough  to  make  her  understand  that  I 
said  in  purr  language,  'I  love  you,  love  you.  Don't  send 
me  away ! ' 

"  Oh  the  happiness  of  a  cat  with  a  good  home  !  I  had 
now  a  good  home.  I  was  held  in  laps,  stroked  well, 
talked  to,  even  kissed.  I  had  warm  milk,  meat  scraps, 
and  plenty  of  fish.  I  was  not  expected  to  catch.  I  won- 
der why  cats  are  almost  always  expected  to  catch. 

"  I  went  every  day  to  see  poor  Ellen.  I  used  to  go  up 
after  breakfast  and  scratch  the  door  and  get  myself  let 
in.  When  she  combed  her  hair  I  sat  close  to  her  looking- 
glass,  and  looked  at  her  while  she  combed  her  hair,  and 
when  she  sat  down  to  rest  I  lay  on  the  floor  and  waited, 
and  when  she  put  on  her  shoes  I  kept  at  her  feet,  and 
rubbed  her  feet,  and  then  I   rubbed   against   her  a  good 


34 


KING  GRIMAIKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


deal  and  purred  to  be  taken  up,  and  she  took  me  up. 
Poor  Ellen  could  not  walk  much  but  she  could  hold  me. 
She  liked  me  because  I  kept  myself  so  clean  and  white. 

"The  maiden  said  she  never  before   saw   a  cat   which 
could  not  endure  a  speck  of  dirt.     She  said  she  believed 


THE    HEN  S    LESSON    IN    NEATNESS. 


I  taught  her  other  cats  to  be  neat.  This  might  not 
have  been  true,  but  it  was  certainly  true  that  while  I  was 
with  them  the  other  cats  were  very  careful  to  clean 
themselves  after  eating.  One  day  she  called  the  family 
to  see   us.     'Look!'    she  cried.      'Look  at   my   cat  that 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  35 

cannot  endure  a  speck  of  dirt!  I  do  believe  that  rooster 
has  brought  his  hen  to  make  her  take  a  lesson  in 
neatness.' 

"  This  might  not  have  been  true,  either.  He  might 
have  brought  her  to  make  her  take  a  lesson  in  neatness, 
or  he  might  have  brought  her  for  the  scraps  we  often  left. 

"  Speaking  of  hens,  a  chicken  made  something  happen 
to  me  which  does  not  often  happen  to  a  cat.  Our  hen 
hatched  out  a  brood  of  chickens  and  while  they  were 
little  she  was  carried  off  by  a  fox.  All  the  chickens  died 
except  two,  and  one  of  these  had  a  weak  throat.  When 
the  fox  carried  off  the  hen  he  stepped  on  that  little 
chicken's  neck  and  it  had  a  weak  throat  ever  after.  One 
day  when  I  was  in  a  far  corner  of  the  garden  I  heard  a 
curious  noise  like  a  choking,  or  a  peeping,  but  more  like 
a  choking  than  a  peeping.  I  watched,  and  presently  that 
little  chicken  came  out  of  the  grass.  I  should  have 
sprung  upon  it  if  I  had  not  seen  that  it  was  in  distress 
and  was  coming  to  me  for  help.  It  had  got  a  bug  stuck 
in  its  throat.  It  came  close  to  me  and  I  licked  it,  and 
purred  to  it  and  tried  to  cover  it  over  with  myself  just  as 
its  own  mother  used  to.  Pretty  soon  it  swallowed  that 
bug. 

"  After  this  it  often  came  to  me  to  be  licked  and 
purred  to    when  it   had   a  bug  or  a  worm   stuck  in   its 


36 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


i  tried  to  i;e  a  mother  to  them  both. 


throat,  and  at  last  it  brought  the  other  chicken,  and  I 
tried  to  be  a  mother  to  them  both,  for  my  dear  little 
kittens    had    all    been   sent  away.       The    other  chicken 

grew    faster    than    the 


first  one  ;  it  had  a  strong 
throat  to  swallow  with. 
I  took  great  care  of 
them  both  and  licked 
them  clean,  for  I  could 
not  bear  a  speck  of  dirt 
on  them  any  more  than  if  they  had  been  my  kittens. 

"  Now  when  the  maiden  saw  me  doing  this  she  told 
her  brother  that  if  I  could  live  peaceably  with  chickens  I 
could  with  birds,  and  that  she  meant  to  try  me.  She 
first  fed  me  well  then  brought  to  me  a  tame  bird.  Its 
wings  had  been  clipped  so  that  it  could  not  fly  and  it  was 
very  hungry.  It  was  afraid  of  me  and  it  hopped  round 
crying  its  bird  kind  of  cry.  But  I  did  not  touch  it  and 
when  it  saw  me  licking  the  chicken  it  hopped  near  me  to 
get  some  rice  which  both  the  chickens  were  eating.  In 
a  few  days  the  bird  and  I  were  good  friends.  He  let  me 
lick  him  and  he  used  to  sit  on  my  head  and  sing,  and  we 
all  ate  our  meals  together  until  the  chickens  died.  The 
first  one  died  of  its  weak  throat  and  the  other  died  of  the 
bite  of  a  cat.     One  day  a  girl  brought  her  cat  to  see  us. 


THE    HAPPV   FAMILY. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  39 

She  kept  her  up  high  on  her  shoulders,  away  from  us,  but 
when  that  other  chicken  put  its  head  out  to  pick  up  a 
bug,  that  cat  jumped  down  quick  and  caught  that  chicken 
by  the  head,  and  it  died  afterwards. 

"  But  before  these   died   the   maiden   and   her  brother 
tamed  some  young  guinea  pigs  and  some  young  white 
mice,  and  made  them  grow  up  friends.    They  stayed  in  a 
pen  close  to  ours  until  we   all   became   acquainted   with 
each  other  and  then   the   slats   between   the   pens   were 
taken  off,  and  the  two  pens  were  made  into  one  and  we 
all  lived  together.     I  must  own  that  at  first  I  did  wish  to 
catch  a  mouse  just  for  the   sake   of  catching  one,   and 
though  born  short-clawed  I  could  no  doubt  have  caught 
one  in  a  pen,  but  the  maiden  thought  I  might  have  such 
a  wish  and  pared  my  claws.     I  was  very  happy  with  my 
new  friends.     After  I  knew  the  little  mice  I  had  no  wish 
to  catch  them.     I   played   with   them   and   let   them   run 
over    my   back.      When  one   comes  to   know   mice,   one 
likes  their  company  and  finds  them  very  agreeable  and 
playful  and  lively. 

«  The  maiden's  brother  said  they  might  as  well  have  a 
Happy  Family,  and  he  trained  some  big  birds  and  other 
birds  and  they  came  to  live  with  us  and  we  were  a  very 

Happy  Family. 

"  When  the  maiden  and  her  brother  went  away  to  live 


4o 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


in  another  place  they  sold  us  to  a  showman  to  put  in  his 
show.  The  showman  travels  about  the  country  showing 
his  show.  A  few  days  ago  the  wagon  we  were  in  upset 
and  our  door  came  open.  The  birds  flew  away,  the  mice 
hid  under  a  rock  and  the  guinea  pigs  ran  into  the  woods. 
I  am  on  my  way  back  home,  and  I  shall  stay  in  this  place 
only  long  enough  to  attend  your  ladyship's  famous  party. 
"  Said  Lady  Yellow-paw  to  my  great,  great,  great,  great, 
great,  twenty-seven  times  great  grandmother  Pinky-white, 
when  she  had  ended  her  story,  said  Lady  Yellow-paw: 
•  Pinky-white,  you  do  not  speak  of  having  a  dog  in  your 
Happy  Family.' 

"  She    had    hardly  said  this  before  a  tittering,  chuck- 
ling, clicking  noise  was  heard  and  out  spoke  a  pert  little 

spotted  black-and-white  kitten  and 
said,  'Te!  he!  he!  I  used  to  play 
with  a  dog's  tail !  A  black,  peeked- 
nosed  dog's  tail,  and  his  name  was 
Trippy ;  and  he  was  good  to  me. 
He  had  a  curly  tail.' 

" « Silence ! '  cried  the  spotted  black- 
and-white  kitten's    mother.      '  Don't 
you  know  better  than  to  speak  up  at 
a  famous  party — a  little  thing  like  you?      Silence!' 
'•'Trippy  liked  me  after  you  went  away,'  cried  another 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


HE  TOOK    ME   OUT. 


kitten;  a  white  one.  'He  liked  me  better  than  he  liked 
you.  He  let  me  play  with  his  ears,  and  sleep  on  his 
neck,  and  he  cried  for  me  when  I 
was  out  of  his  sight.  When  some- 
body threw  me  in  the  water,  Trippy 
took  me  out  with  his  mouth.' 

"  This  kitten's  mother  was  not  at 
the  party,  but  its  snappish  old  aunt, 
Black  Velvet,  was  there  and  she  gave 
it  a  smart  box  on  the  ear.  'It  is  a 
pity,'  said  she,  '  if  at  a  famous  party  like  this  we 
older  ones  cannot  be  heard  for  the  noise  of  these 
pert  little  minxes.  I  myself  could  tell  a  strange 
story;  a  story  stranger  far  than  even  the  one  just  heard 
from  that  very  neat  puss,  Pinky-white,  with  her  Happy 
and  her  Unhappy,  and  her  Not  a  Speck  of  Dirt!  Was 
she  blown  off  a  tree  in  a  whirlwind  ?  Answer  me  that ;  or 
did  she  go  to  sea  in  a  baby's  crib  ?     Answer  me  that.' 

"  Said  Lady  Yellow-paw  to  Black  Velvet,  '  Let  me  hear 
your  strange  story,  how  you  were  blown  off  a  tree  in  a 
whirlwind,  and  how  you  came  to  go  to  sea  in  a  baby's 
crib.' 

"  Here  the  cat  that  hadn't  common  sense  rushed 
round  the  ring  and  stood  on  her  head  and  said,  '  I  can 


42  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

tell  the  strangest  story  of  all,  for  I  can  tell  why  I  haven't 
got  common  sense.'" 

When  the  lovely  Pussyanita  had  told  thus  far  she 
stopped  suddenly  and  said  to  King  Grimalkum,  "  I  beg 
your  majesty's  pardon.  Oh  King  Grimalkum,  you 
only  wished  to  hear  the  story  of  my  great,  great, 
great,  great,  great,  twenty-seven  times  great  grandmother 
Pinky-white,  and  I  have  told,  besides  this,  of  the  spotted 
black-and-white  kitten  who  played  with  the  peeked-nosed 
little  black  dog's  tail,  and  of  the  white  kitten  he  took  out 
of  the  water,  and  have  also  spoken  of  Black  Velvet  who 
was  blown  off  a  tree  in  a  whirlwind  and  afterwards  went 
to  sea  in  a  baby's  crib,  and  of  the  cat  who  hadn't  common 
sense —  I  will  say  no  more." 

"You  shall  say  more,"  said  King  Grimalkum,  sternly, 
"  I  can  never  close  my  eyes  to  slumber  until  I  know  how 
it  happened  that  Black  Velvet  was  blown  off  a  tree  in 
a  whirlwind  and  afterwards  went  to  sea  in  a  baby's 
crib. 

"  A  baby's  crib  is  a  strange  thing  to  go  to  sea  in  ;  why 
not  in  a  boat?  or  in  a  tub?  or  even  on  a  board?  Why 
go  to  sea  at  all,  when  there  is  plenty  of  ground,  and 
when  cats  hate  water?  And  as  for  that  other  cat,  why 
had  she  not  common  sense?  She  needed  common  sense. 
Every  cat  needs  common  sense," 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  43 

"  i  can  tell  your  majesty  in  a  few  words  why  the 
cat  that  hadn't  common  sense  hadn't  common  sense," 
replied  Pussyanita.  "  It  was  because  she  lost  it. 
Do  you  ask  how  ?  I  answer  by  a  looking-glass  and  a 
clock. 

"  When  quite  young  she  looked  in  a  looking-glass 
and  saw  herself  there,  and  thought  it  was  another  cat 
staring  at  her,  and  got  mad  at  that  other  cat,  and  flew  at 
it,  and  broke  the  glass,  and  frightened  herself  so  that  she 
ran  all  over  the  house  and  when  she  came  to  the 
clock  the  clock  door  was  open  and  she  jumped  in.  The 
clock  door  got  shut  and  she  had  long  to  stay  there,  and 
the  noises  in  the  clock  almost  made  her  crazy,  and  she 
never  had  common  sense  afterwards.  This  tells  why  the 
cat  that  hadn't  common  sense  hadn't  common  sense," 
continued  Pussyanita;  "  but  to  tell  all  about  Black  Vel- 
vet, and  how  it  happened  that  she  was  blown  off  a  tree  in 
a  whirlwind,  why  she  went  to  sea  at  all  when  there  was 
plenty  of  ground  and  cats  hate  water,  will  take  a  longer 
time  than  I  have  to  live." 

"  Time  shall  be  granted  you,"  cried  King  Grimalkum. 
"  Go  on  !  go  on  at  once  !  " 

The  lovely  Pussyanita  then  went  on,  and  went  on 
at  once,  to  tell  the  Story  of  Black  Velvet  as  told  by 
herself  at  Lady  Yellow-paw's  famous  party. 


44 


KING  GRIMAIKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


^*^- 


THE    STORY    OF    BLA.CK    VELVET. 


"  I  was  born  in  a  barn.     My  brothers  and   sisters  were 
born  in  the  same  place.  There  were  four  of  us,  all  of  the 
same  age  and  size.    As  soon  as  we  could  run  our  mother 
took  us  all  over  the  great  barn-country.      She  did  every- 
thing for  our  good.     She  showed  us   the   holes   and  told 
us  which  were  mouse   holes   and   which  were   rat   holes. 
She  showed  us  how  to  spring  and  how  to  catch,  and  how 
to  hold.     She  brought  us   many   kinds   of  eatable   bugs 
and  taught  us  to  snap  at  flies   and    to   beware  of  wasps. 
At  night  she  went  forth  to  hunt  for  us  the  slippery  mole 
which  slips  so  swiftly  through   the    grass.      At  day   she 
purred  us  sweetly  to  sleep,  or  sometimes  she  let  us  go 
with  her  to  the  wheatfields  and  get  a  peep  at  the  moles 
and    watch    the    field    mice    running    up   and    down    the 
wheat  stalks. 

"  We  lived  in  the  hayloft  and  oh  what  frolics  we  used 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


45 


to  have  !     What  frolics!     What  frolics  !      We  raced,  we 
scampered,  we  skipped,  we  hopped,  we  tumbled  over  each 

other,    we    tumbled 


over  ourselves,  we 
chased  each  others' 
tails,  we  chased  our 
own  tails,  we  played 
hide  and  seek  in  the 
hay,  we  scrambled  up 
the  beams,  we  ran 
along  the  rafters,  we 
peeped  down,  we  took 
turns  sitting  in  out 
sunbeam  —  I     speak 

now    of  a  sunbeam  which  shone  through  a  knot-hole. 
"Our  mother  liked  to  curl  herself  up  and  sit  with  her 

eyes    half  shut    watching  our 

sports.     She  would  sit  a  long, 

long    time,    scarcely    moving, 

except  to  stir  the  end  of  her  tail. 

We   were  happy   to   have   her 

near  us.     She  was  gentle  in  her 

manners,     though    of     course 

when  she  was  watching,  or  catching,  or  holding,  she  looked 

fierce.    Any  cat  would  do  so.    She  was  not  one  of  the  cross 


WITH    HER   EYES    HALF    SHUT. 


40 


KING  GRIMALKUM AND  PUSSYANITA. 


kind,  always  cuffing  and  boxing  and  snapping  and 
growling  and  spitting.  She  never  punished  us  but  once 
and  that  was  when  we  were  very  little.  We  fell  down 
the  crooked  stairs  which  led  up  to  our  home.  She  had 
always  made  us  keep  away  from  the  small  ends  of  the 

crooked  stairs 
because  there 
was  no  room 
there  to  put 
our  paws. 
11  One  day  our 
mother  had 
been  watch- 
ing a  mouse 
at  the  bottom 
of  the  crooked 
stairs  while  we 
played  at  the 
top.  I  hopped 
too  near  the 
small  ends  and 

peeped  down  and  my  brothers  and  sisters  hopped  at  me, 
and  down  we  all  went,  heels  over  head.  Our  mother  was 
angry,  for  she  lost  the  mouse.  We  went  without  our  dim 
ner  and  had  other  punishment  which  I  need  not  mention. 


WATCHING    A    MOUSE. 


WHITE    SATIN    AT    HOME. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  49 

"Now  the  noise  we  made  in  falling  down  and  in  being 
punished  was  heard  by  some  girls  playing  on  the  barn 
rioor  and  they  scrambled  up  a  ladder  to  find  out  what  was 
the  matter.  V/hen  one  of  the  girls  who  climbed  up  the 
ladder  saw  me  she  said,  'Oh!  oh  !  A  black  kitten  !  Do 
give  it  to  me!  She  will  make  three!  Then  I  shall  have 
three  black  ones  and  three  white  ones ! ' 

'"Yes!  do  take  her!'  said  the  other  girl.  'If  you 
don't  take  her  she  will  be  drowned.' 

*'  The  next  day  I  was  put  in  a  box  with  holes  in  the 
cover  and  carried  a  long,  long  way  to  a  strange  place. 
This  made  me  sorrowful  but  still  I  was  glad  not  to  be 
drowned,  and  after  the  first  day  the  five  other  kittens 
began  to  be  friendly,  and  the  two  black  ones  were  glad  I 
came,  for  there  were  then  as  many  black  ones  as  white 
ones.  I  was  named  Black  Velvet  to  match  White  Velvet. 
The  others  were  Black  Floss  and  White  Floss  and  Black 
Satin  and  White  Satin. 

"  White  Satin  used  to  run  away  and  go  home  to  her 
mother  and  her  sisters.  She  had  a  gray  mother  and  two 
gray  sisters.  Sometimes  we  went  with  her.  She  liked 
to  play  with  her  sisters  and  show  them  her  ribbon.  Our 
mistress  wished  us  not  to  go  and  tried  to  keep  us  in  the 
house.  I  did  not  like  this,  I  wanted  to  scamper  across 
the  garden,  or  down  to  the  river,  or  across  a  field  to  an 


5° 


KING  GRIMAIKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


old  barn.  I  peeped  all  about  and  found  good  places  to 
get  out  by.  Then  I  used  to  coax  White  Velvet,  and 
White  Floss,  and  White  Satin,  and  Black  Floss,  and 
Black  Satin  to  go.  I  always  went  first  and  they  followed. 
"There  were  two  gray  kittens  living  in  the  barn,  and 
the  first  day  we  went  there  these  two  ran  and  jumped  into 

a  wheelbarrow  and 
looked  down  upon 
us.  Pretty  soon  they 
began  to  stretch  out 
their  necks,  and 
shake  their  tails. 
Then  they  crept 
down,  then  they 
crept  towards  us,  and 
began  to  glare  and 
spit,  and  sputter,  and 
their  tails  grew  so 
big  we  thought  we 
had  better  go  home. 


THEY    LOOKED    DOWN    UPON    US. 


"  We  liked  to  go 


to  the  barn  on  ac- 
count of  the  chances  to  catch  mice.  The  gray  kittens  flew 
at  us  every  time  we  went,  and  at  last  one  of  them  hit  White 
Velvet  in  the  eye  and  made  it  bleed.     Our  mistress  kept  us 


OR  TEZ  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


51 


in  the  house  after  that,  but  we  had  fun  racing  over  the  beds 
and  playing  in  the  curtains.  We  played  in  the  curtains  so 
much  that  our  claws  had  to  be  cut  at  the  points.  We 
were  almost  as  well  treated  as  children.  Our  milk  was 
warmed,  we  had  plenty  of  squash,  and  fish,  and  a  good 
deal  of  chicken  meat.  Catnip  was  brought  for  us.  We 
had  each  a  basket  to  sleep  in,  and  the  baskets  were 
trimmed  with  ribbons  and  had  cushions.  We  had 
ribbons  on  our  necks ;  the  catnip  was  good. 

"  But  I  did  not  like  staving  in  the  house  all  the  time 
and  every  chance  there  was  I  jumped  out  at  an  open  win- 
dow or  door,  and  White  Velvet,  White  Floss,  White  Satin, 
Black  Floss  and  Black  Satin  all  jumped  and  went  wher- 
ever I  went.  But  after  the  Great  Whirlwind,  I  was  kept 
in  the  house.     I  will  now  speak  of  the  Great  Whirlwind. 

"It  was  a  cold  day  and  it  seemed  as  if  a  door  never 
would  be  left  open,  but  one  was  left  open  at  last,  and  out 
I  went,  and  out  went  White  Velvet,  White  Floss,  White 
Satin,  Black  Floss  and  Black  Satin  after  me.  We  raced 
across  the  fields  to  the  barn.  The  gray  kittens  were  not 
at  home  and  we  watched  mouse  holes,  and  chased  mice  till 
a  man  came  and  drove   us  out   and   shut  the  door  tight. 

"The  wind  blew;  the  sky  was  dark;  the  sun  did  not 
shine.  We  felt  rain  drops.  This  set  us  scampering. 
When  we  were  in  the  field   we  saw  a  great  dog  coming 


52 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


and  we  ran  to  a   tree  and  scampered   up.      I   stopped  to 
spit  at  the  dog  and  was  the  last  one  up.      The  sky  grew 

blacker,  the  wind  blew  harder 
and  harder.  The  dog  lay 
down  on  the  ground  and 
howled.  Not  one  of  us  durst 
come  down.  The  rain  came 
hard  upon  us.  The  tree 
branches  whirled  round  and 
round.  It  was  a  great 
wind.  It  was  a  whirlwind. 
It  blew  off  all  the  leaves 
that  had  been  left  on  and  then 
it  blew  us  off.  For  it  was  a 
great  wind.  Yes,  a  whirlwind. 
A  dreadful  whirlwind.  I  hope, 
dear  Lady  Yellow-paw,  that 
neither  you  nor  any  one  at  this 
famous  party  will  ever  know  the 
feeling  of  being  blown  off  a  tree 
in  a  whirlwind.  I  hope  you  nor 
any  one  at  this  famous  party  will  know  the  feeling  of 
being  in  a  tree  in  a  whirlwind  with  claws  that  have 
been  pared  down  at  the  points.  None  of  our  bones  were 
broken.    How  thankful  we  all  ought  to  be  that  we  are  cats 


WE  SAW  A  GREAT    DOG   COMING. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


53 


and  not  children,  for  we  have  cushions  on  our  feet,  so  that 
we  can  be  blown    down  without  having  any  bones  broken. 

"  None  of  our  bones  were  broken  but  Ave  were  drenched 
with  the  wet  rain.  We  were  almost  dead  with  the  fright 
and  the  wet  rain  and  we  crawled  all  the  way  home. 

"  Our  mistress  was  looking 
for  us.  She  said,  '  Oh  you 
naughties,  come  in  quick!' 
We  crawled  in  and  she  wiped 
us  with  a  dry  cloth  and  laid 
us  in  a  row  in  front  of  the 
stove,  and  gave  us  a  warm 
supper  and  then  some  catnip. 

"  After  this  she  kept  me  in 
the  house.  Said  she,  'Black 
Velvet,  you  put  mischief  into 
the  others '  heads  and  I  wrill 
keep  you  in.  Black  Satin, 
Black  Floss,  White  Velvet, 
White  Floss  and  White 
Satin  you  may  go.  Black 
Velvet  shall  stay  with  me.' 

"  It  was  hard  to  see  Black 
Floss,  Black  Satin,  White 
Velvet,  White   Floss  and   White  Satin   skipping  in   the 


OFF   A   TREE   IN    A   WHIRLWIND. 


54  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYAN1TA. 

yard,  over  fences,  up  and  down  clothes-poles,  and  be 
myself  shut  up  indoors.  But  how  little  we  know  what  is 
best  for  us  !  One  day  those  others  did  of  themselves  go 
to  a  corn-house,  and  there  they  tasted  bad  meat  which 
had  been  put  there  to  kill  rats,  and  they  all  died  !  Every 
one,  Black  Floss,  Black  Satin,  White  Velvet,  White 
Floss,  White  Satin,  every  one  died.  Oh  how  my  mistress 
did  cry  !  And  I  too.  Yes,  I  was  sad  and  lonely.  I  went 
crying  round  from  room  to  room,  calling  for  my  lost 
playmates.     I  looked  in  all  their  baskets. 

"  My  mistress  seemed  to  love  me  more  than  ever.  '  I 
have  only  you,  now,  Black  Velvet,'  she  would  say.  Then 
she  would  hug  me  and  hug  me.  She  let  me  do  what  I 
pleased.  I  had  thick  cream.  When  she  was  sewing  I 
jumped  on  her  shoulder  and  played  in  her  hair,  and  I 
went  to  sleep  in  her  hat,  if  I  wanted  to,  and  in  her  work- 
basket.  When  she  went  out  to  walk  she  used  to  take  me 
with  her  and  wrap  me  up  in  her  apron,  and  talk  to  me. 
But  when  I  grew  to  be  a  cat  she  made  me  a  blanket  of 
my  own.  It  was  a  good  one.  It  was  my  own  blanket. 
She  loved  me  a  great  deal. 

"  I    said   at    the   beginning    of    my   story   that   it   is 
wonderful  story.     You  will    say  that  this   is   true   when 
you  hear  what  happened  to  me  next. 

"  One  day  the  river  grew  very  big  and  spread  up  to  the 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


55 


houses,  yes,  up  over 
the  windows  of  the 
houses,  and  broke 
the  houses  in  pieces. 
I  was  sleeping  in  a 
rocking  chair  and 
the  water  wet  me 
and  waked  me  from 
sleep  and  I  sprang 
up  on  top  the  rock- 
ing chair  back,  and 
the  water  swashed 
and  there  was  a  great 
noise  and  the  rock- 
ing chair  went  sail- 
ing off  and  many 
other  things  went, 
and  the  chair  began 
to  go  down  deeper 
and  then  I  jumped 
off  on  to  a  bucket. 
Something  hit  that 
a  knock  and  I  had 
only  time  to    catch  MY  MISTRESS- 

hold  of  a  box;  a  small  one.     There  was  just  room  to  get 


56 


KING  GRIMAIKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


all  my  paws  on  and  I  had  to  stick  my  back  up  high.     I 
expected    every    moment     to     be     drowned.       I     little 

thought  I  should 
live  to  tell  the  story. 
But  a  piece  of  board 
was  knocked 
against  me.  I 
sprang  upon  that. 
Then  came  a  chair. 
I  sprang  upon  that. 
Then  came  some- 
thing else  ;  some 
thing  wonderful, 
but  I  said  at  the 
beginning  that  this 
is  a  wonderful 
story.  This  next 
thing  was  a  baby's 
crib  with  the  baby 
in  it!  The  curtains 
were  open  and  the 
baby  was  looking 
out.  I  jumped  from  the  chair  to  the  cradle  and  lay  down 
on  the  baby.  I  was  glad  enough  to  get  that  resting  place.  I 
felt  safe  with  the  baby.      Somebody  would  come  to  get 


I    FELT    SAFE. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  57 

the  baby.  The  baby  put  out  its  hands  and  took 
hold  of  me. 

"  I  don't  know  what  became  of  that  poor  baby.  The 
crib  tipped  over.  I  heard  a  man  speak,  and  perhaps  he 
went  and  got  the  baby.  I  was  lucky  enough  to  jump  on 
to  a  firkin,  and  on  this  I  floated  down,  down,  down,  down, 
I  don't  know  where,  but  I  cried,  cried,  cried,  oh  how  I 
cried ! 

"I  bumped  against  something  hard,  something  very 
big.  I  scrambled  up.  Men  were  on  it,  and  a  woman, 
and  a  girl,  and  boys.  They  clapped  and  shouted  and 
laughed.  Oh  what  a  noise!  Don't  people  know  that 
loud  noises  make  our  ears  ache?  Don't  they  know  that 
our  ears  are  made  to  hear  very  little  faint  mouse-taps, 
butterfly-wing  noises,  and  we  can't  bear  loud  noises?  No, 
they  don't  know.     But  I  must  go  on  with  my  story. 

"That  big  hard  thing  was  not  a  house  nor  a  barn.  It 
moved  over  the  water.  You  cats  that  have  lived  only  on 
ground  cannot  think  how  dreadful  it  is  to  stay  in  the 
midst  of  water.  Not  a  bit  of  ground!  No  grass  to  eat. 
Oh  I  thought  I  should  die  for  want  of  a  bit  of  something 
green!  No  trees  to  climb!  But  there  were  some  very 
high  poles  set  for  me  to  climb  ;  poles  taller  than  trees, 
and  ropes  and  everything  handy  fixed  for  me  to  hang  on 
by.     I  was  treated  well.     The  men   fed   me,   the  women 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


fed  me,  the  girl  fed  me,  the  boys  fed  me.  The  cook 
taught  me  some  tricks  which  I  shall  be  happy  to  show 
to  those  present  at  this  famous  party,  if  I  shall  be  prop- 
erly invited.    A  little  girl  held  me  and  she  put  me  around 

her  neck  for  a  com- 
forter. I  let  her  do 
it.  The  cook  hung 
a  bell  round  my 
neck.  The  noise  of 
it  pained  my  ears, 
and  I  was  glad  when 
the  woman  took  it 
off.  She  took  it  off 
because  I  used  to 
get  into  the  place 
where  the  girl  slept, 
and  wake  her  up. 

"Now  when  the 
ship  came  to  the 
ground  the  cook  put 
me  into  a  bag  and 


I    USED   TO   GET    INTO    THE    PLACE   WHERE   THE   GIRL   SLEPT. 


got  into  a  cart.  He 
was  going  to  give  me  away.  Pretty  soon  I  smelled  grass. 
Then  I  scratched  and  cried.  Oh  how  I  did  want  a  piece  of 
something  green  and  to  roll  in  the  grass  !     Every  cat  here 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


59 


knows  it  would  be  a  hard  thing  to  live  without  something 
green.  I  soon  got  something  green,  and  plenty  of  it.  The 
cook  opened  the  bag  a  little,  to  show  me  to  another  man  and 
I  took  a  sudden  spring  and  away  I  went,  and  the  more  he 
called,  '  Puss !  Puss  !  Puss  ! '  the  faster  I  ran,  and  at  last 
I  found  myself  all  alone  in  the  fields,  in  a  strange  country. 
"  I  rolled  over  and  over,  and  tore  up  the  grass,  and  ran 
up  and  down  trees,  and  then  I  lay  down  behind  a  bush 
and  watched  to  see  if  there  were  any  moles  or  field  mice 
in  that  country.  Pretty  soon  I  saw  two  live  things 
sitting  together.  They  looked  like  rats,  but  they  had 
white  on  them. 
They  were  sitting 
in  the  sun.  I  was 
going  to  spring  at 
them,  but  I  stop- 
ped. I  was  in  a 
strange  country. 
How  did  I  know 
if  the  creatures 
were  good  to  eat? 
They  might  be 
bad  as  that  bad 
meat  which  killed 
poor  White    Velvet,   White  Satin,  White   Floss,   Black 


TWO    LIVE   THINGS    SITTING    TOGETHER. 


6o 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


Satin,  and   Black  Floss ;    or  they   might   have   dreadful 
teeth,  or  dreadful  claws. 

"  While  I  was  waiting  a  minute  to  think  about  it,  I 
heard  a  sound  in  the  grass;  a  creep,  creep,  creep,  creeping 
sound  in  the  grass.  It  was  a  cat.  But  she  did  not 
spring  quick  enough.  They  heard  her  and  skipped  out 
of  sight  quicker  than  a  wink. 

"  As  the  cat  sprang  past  me  I  could  see  that  she  had 
no  tail.  '  Poor  thing,'  I  said,  '  she  has  lost  it  in  a  trap  !  ' 
Pretty  soon  I  saw  another  cat  without  any  tail.  Then 
some  kittens  without  any  tails.  I  thought  that  must  be 
a  dreadful  place  for  traps.  I  dared  not  step  in  the  grass 
to  hunt. 

"  I  got  very  hungry  keeping  still  without  hunting  for 
mice  and  moles,  and  at  last  I  went  to  a  house.  In  the 
yard  of  the  house  a  black  and  white    cat  without  a    tail 

stood  and  looked  at  me. 
"  '  What  do  you  want 
here  ?  '  said  she. 

" '  I  want  to  go  in  the 
house,'  said  I. 

"'Be  off!'  said  she. 
"  '  I  won't ! '  said  I. 
"Then    she    began    to 
spit,  and  she  flew  at  me,  and   I   flew  at   her.      A  woman 


THE   BLACK    AND   WHITE   CAT. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  61 

came  running  out  and  took  me  up.  '  Oh  you  beautiful 
creature  ! '  she  said.  '  You've  got  a  tail !  I'm  so  glad  to 
get  a  cat  with  a  tail.'  I  must  tell  you,  dear  Lady  Yellow- 
paw  and  all  present  at  this  famous  party  that  the  cats  of 
that  strange  place  did  not  have  any  tails.  '  No  tails  ! ' 
cried  Lady  Yellow-paw  and  others.  '  How  then  do  they 
show  when  they  are  glad  and  when  they  are  mad?  ' 

"  I  said  at  the  beginning,  dear  Lady  Yellow-paw,  that 
this  is  a  wonderful  story.  Let  me  tell  you  that  the 
cats  of  that  place  do  not  wish  to  have  tails.  '  Not  wish 
to  have  tails  ? '  cried  Lady  Yellow-paw  and  others  at  the 
famous  party.  No,  your  ladyship.  But  let  us  not  be 
conceited  and  think  our  own  ways  are  always  the  best. 
To  be  sure  a  tail  does  add  to  the  good  looks  of  a  cat, 
still  we  all  know  that  a  tail  is  a  great  care ;  always  likely 
to  get  rocked  on,  or  stepped  on,  or  pulled,  and  is  some- 
times in  the  way  when  you  want  to  sit  down.  That 
no-tailed  cat  made  my  tail  a  way  of  hurting  me.  All 
present  must  have  seen  that  its  tip  is  gone,  though  all 
have  been  so  polite  as  to  seem  not  to  notice  this.  It  was 
the  doings  of  that  jealous  no-tailed  cat.  She  was  jealous 
because  so  much  notice  was  taken  of  me.  She  could  not 
bear  me  to  come  into  the  house.  She  clawed,  and  bit, 
and  spit  at  me  so  that  my  mistress  had  to  let  me  sleep  in 
the  room  with  herself  and  her  little  boy.    One  night  I  did 


62 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


what  pleased  my  mistress  very  much.  One  night  a 
mouse  jumped  on  her  boy's  bed,  and  waked  him  up,  just 
as  I  used  to  wake  up   that  girl  when  I  had   that   bell  on 

my  neck.  I  caught  this 
mouse,  and  found  him 
quite  as  good  as  any 
in  our  own  country. 
My  mistress  praised  me 
more  than  ever,  after 
this,  and  held  me,  and 
stroked  me  a  great  deal, 
but  her  doing  so  made 
that  other  cat  maul  me 
worse  than  ever,  and 
I  should  have  run  away  if  my  mistress  herself  had 
not  come  away.  My  mistress  came  to  this  country  and 
brought  me  with  her.  Here  I  am,  out  of  reach  of  that 
jealous  cat's  teeth  and  claws.  Here  I  am  well-fed  and 
tended.  Here  I  live  an  easy  life.  Yet  still  I  am  not 
happy.  Would  you  know  the  reason  why?  My  mis- 
tress has  another  cat,  a  partly  white  cat.  People  call 
her  a  beautiful  cat.  So  she  may  be  to  any  one  who 
fancies  white  paws  and  white  noses.  I  do  not  like  to 
see  my  mistress  hold  that  cat  and  stroke  her.  I  am 
obliged  to  see  it.     I  am  obliged  to  see  the  boy  like  that 


THE    MOUSE   THAT   BLACK   VELVET   CAUGHT. 


SOMETHING  BLACK  VELVET  WAS  NEVER,  NEVER  ALLOWF.n  TO   DO. 


63 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  65 

cat ;  hug  that  cat ;  I  am  even  obliged  to  see  her  allowed 
to  jump  up  and  eat  milk  from  the  same  bowl  with  him, 
something  /  have  never   been   allowed  to   do! 

"All  this  is  hard  to  bear.  I  do  not  like  to  think  about 
it,  and  to  keep  myself  from  thinking  about  it  I  employ 
myself  in  teaching  the  way  of  opening  doors.  Every  cat 
should  know  how  to  open  doors.  There  may  be  times 
in  a  cat's  life  when  she  may  save  her  life  by  knowing 
how  to  open  a  door.  There  are  times  in  every  cat's  life 
when  she   may  get   food  by   opening  a  door. 

11  Here  a  number  of  cats  sprang  to  their  feet  and  began 
to  tell  of  particular  times  when  they  had  saved  them- 
selves and  got  food  by  knowing  how  to  open  doors. 
Among  them  was  the  cat  that  hadn't  common  sense. 
1  One  at  a  time,  my  dears,'  said  Lady  Yellow-paw. 
*  Snowball,  will  you  begin  ?  ' " 

"  But  I  humbly  beg  your  Majesty's  pardon,"  said  the 
lovely  Pussyanita  to  the  King.  "  The  particular  times 
when  all  these  saved  themselves  or  got  food  by  knowing 
how  to  open  doors  were  not  in  Black  Velvet's  story. 
You  asked,  oh  King,  for  Black  Velvet's  story.  That  is 
ended,  I   am  silent." 

"You  shall  not  be  silent !  "  thundered  King  Grimalkum. 
"  Speak !     As  king  of  all  the  cats,  I  wish  particularly  to 


66 


KING  GRIMALKVM  AND  PUSS  VAN JTA. 


know  the  particular  times  when  all  those  saved  themselves 
and  got  food  by  knowing  how  to  open  doors.     As  king  of 


SHE    USED    TO    SIT    ON   A    HIGH    WALL. 


all  the  cats, I  should  be  well  informed  on  all  such  matters.'* 
"  To    tell    you    what    you    ask,"    answered    the    lovelv 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


67 


Pussyanita,  "  would  take  a  longer  time  than  I  have  to  live." 
"  Time  shall   be  granted  you,"  said  the  king.     "  Begin 
without  delay  to  tell  what   Snowball  told." 


WHAT    SNOWBALL    TOLD. 

"When  my  sister  Lily  and  myself  were  quite  young, 
but  not  very,  the  people  who  lived  in  the  house  began  to 
talk  of  drowning  us.  Now  all  present  at  this  famous 
party  will  agree  with  me  that  if  we  are  to  be  drowned 
at  all  we  should  be  drowned  when  we  are  too  young  to 
know  anything  about  it.  I  suppose  there  is  not  one  here 
present  who  would  not  rather  have  been  drowned  when 
she  knew  nothing  about  it,  than  to  be  drowned  now. 

"When  our  mother  heard  drowning  spoken  of  she  took 
us  under  the  barn,  and  there  we  stayed  a  long  time.  We 
lived  under  the  barn.  Our  mother  would  not  let  us  come 
out.  She  used  to  sit  on  a  high  wall  and  we  wanted  to, 
but  she  said  dogs  would  get  us  and  boys  would  scare  us. 
A  small  boy  used  to  come  out   there  with  his  books  and 


68 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


his  slates  and  his  other  things,  and  this  small  boy  crawled 
under  the  barn  and  found  us  and  dragged  us  out,  and  then 
our  mother  moved  back  to  the  house  to  live.  On  the  very 
day  we  moved  back,  I  was  put  into  a  covered  basket  and 
sent  away  in  a  rattling  thing  called  a  carriage.  The  noise 
it  made  frightened  me  almost  to  death.  I  scratched  the  bas- 
ket and  clawed  the  cover,  and  stuck  my  paws  through,  and 
mewed  and  cried,  for  I  was  dreadfully  frightened  at  the 
rattling !  At  last  they  put  me  in  a  house.  I  was  afraid 
to  stay  in  that  house.  Everything  in  that  house  was 
strange  to  me.  The  people  were  strangers.  It  seemed 
like  a  dreadful  place.  The  people  put  their  own  things 
on  all   the   good   high  places,  and    every  time  I  jumped 

on  a  good  high  place, 
there  would  be  a  run- 
ning and  a  screaming 
enough  to  scare  you 
out  of  your  senses. 
As  if  kittens  would 
knock  things  off !  As 
if  kittens  were  clumsy 
as  people  and  could 
not  walk  between 
things !  You  know  kittens,  and  cats  too,  need  high 
places  to  jump  up  to. 


JUST   RIGHT  TO   SPRING   AT. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  69 

"  There  was  a  small  boy  in  the  house  and  he  had  a 
whip.  I  need  say  no  more.  You  all  know  or  can  under- 
stand, what  it  is  to  live  in  the  house  with  a  boy  and  a 
whip.  But  I  was  going  to  say  that  even  the  oldest  of 
us  have  been  kittens  once  and  we  know  that  a  kitten 
must  spring  at  things  a-moving.  I  did.  The  boy  rode  on  a 
wooden  horse,  and  the  horse  had  a  tail  just  right  to  spring  at. 
It  was  placed  behind  the  boy  so  that  he  could  not  see  me. 
But  the  people  could,  and  they  punished  me  for  doing  what 
I  could  not  help  doing.  A  kitten  would  not  be  a  kitten  did 
it  hold  back  from  springing  at  such  a  beautiful  tail  a-moving. 

"  I  was  whipped  and  put  down  cellar  a  great  many 
times  and  even  when  I  had  grown  quite  large ;  for  I 
was  always  of  a  lively  turn. 

"  Oh  what  fun  I  had  with  the  people  after  I  learned  to 
open  the  cellar  door !     Mornings  they  would  say  '  I  won- 
der who  let  the  cat  up?'  Some- 
times just  after  I  had  been  put  ^  .^.Hfelk     ^ 
down  cellar  for  meddling  with 
tassels  or  knitting  wrork,  they 
wrould  find  me  on  the  best  bed 
or  in  the  best  chair,  or  in  the 

1  .  11  ,  1  1  .  CURLED    UP   ON   THE   BEST    RUG. 

best  room  curled  up  on  the  best 

rug.     At  last  these  people  took  all  their  things  and  went 

away  and  left  me  there  with  nothing  to  eat.     Every  day 


7° 


KING  GRIMAIKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


I  had  to  go  forth  to  seek  my  food.  Pinky-white  has  told 
you  something  of  what  this  means.  Hanging  around 
back  doors,  kicked,  starved,  frozen,  barked  at  by  dogs, 
chased  by  cruel  boys !  Oh  tongue  cannot  tell  what  I 
suffered  from  cruel  boys  !  They  yelled  at  me,  they  threw 
stones,  they  tormented  me  in  every  way  they  could. 
Just  the  sight  of  one  would  make  me  tremble.  One 
day  when  I  was  on  a  clothes-pole  I  saw  two  boys  com- 
ing, far  away.  They  yelled  at  me  and  picked  up  stones. 
I  scrambled  down.  I  ran  toward  the  house.  I  heard 
their    shouts.     I   ran   to    the  back  door.     The  door  was 

shut.  I  sprang  up, 
caught  the  latch,  the 
door  opened,  I  ran  in  to 
a  woman,  looked  in  her 
face  and  said,  '  Oh  do 
take  care  of  me  ! ' 

"  The  woman  was  so 
much  pleased  with  my 
opening  the  door  that 
she  invited  me  to  live 
in  that  house,  and  I  wa  ; 
the  rat  family.  glad  enough    to    stay 

for  there  is  a  meat-shop 
in  the  house.     I    have   lived   there  a  very  long   time.     I 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  71 

make  myself  useful  by  driving  off  cats  and  dogs  that 
come  to  steal  meat.  Of  course  I  never  steal.  I  do  not 
need  to.  I  am  fed  so  well  that  I  never  know  what  it 
is  to  be  hungry,  and  have  no  wish  for  mouse-meat  or 
rat-meat.  In  fact  the  rats  and  I  are  such  friends,  I  sit  near 
them  in  the  garret  and  watch  their  goings  on  in  their 
families,  and  they  never  mind  me  at  all. 

"  My  good  fortune  came  from  knowing  how  to  open 
doors.  I  will  say  no  more,  for  I  know  the  company  wish 
to  hear  Madame  Pussy  Hunter's  story. 


MADAME    PUSSY    HUNTERS    STORY. 

"I  am  chiefly  an  out-doors  cat.  I  like  to  catch  moles 
and  field-mice  and  rabbits,  and  bugs,  and  butterflies.  I 
like  butterflies  almost  as  well  as  Pussy  Gray  did.  Poor 
Pussy  Gray  who  was  stung  in  the  eye  by  a  bumble-bee 
while  watching  for  butterflies  and  went  crazy  !  I  am 
fond  of  birds   too. 

"  In  this  I  am  different  from  the  renowned  Tabby  Fur* 
purr,  who  found  out  a  way  of  not  liking  birds,  and  on 
that  account  had  her  picture  taken  and  put  in  a  frame  ! 


72 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


"I    was  always   a  butterfly   hunter,   but  not  always   a 

m°le   hunter,   a   field  mouse 

hunter  and  rabbit  hunter.  I 
will  tell  you  how  I  happened 
to  become  a  mole  hunter,  a 
field-mouse  hunter,  and  a 
rabbit  hunter. 

"  One  day  I  went  out 
among  some  tall  flower-stalks 
to  catch  butterflies,  and  got 
very  tired  of  jumping,  and 
lay  down  to  take  a  nap  un- 
der the  flower  stalks.  I  was 
just  dropping  off  to  sleep 
when  I  heard  a  noise  and 
looked  up  and  saw  my  sister 


coming 


She  asked  me  to 
go  to  her  house  and  get  some 
cream.  She  knew  where 
there  was  a  good  deal  of 
cream  in  a  good  place. 
She  wanted  me  to  open  the 
pantry  door.  As  my  sis- 
ter was  anxious  for  me  to  go,  I  went,  and  we  both 
enjoyed  a  hearty  meal.     We  crept  out  of  the  pantry  and 


JUST   DROPPING   OFF   TO    SLEEP. 


THE   DOG  THAT  WAS   UPSIDE   DOWN. 


73 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


75 


then  softly  under  chairs  and  tables  to  the  passage- 
way. In  that  passage-way  was  my  sister's  kitten  play- 
ing with  a  ball  of  yarn.  She  pawed  it,  and  clawed 
it,  and  pushed  it,  and  tumbled  heels  over  head  over 
it,  as  kittens  will  do  —  ah,  we  were  all  kittens  once  ! 
and  at  last  she  pushed  it  into  a  room.  We  peeped 
in  at  the  door  and  saw  the  kitten  leave  the  ball  sud- 
denly, and  pop  behind  the  screen.  Her  tail  was  very 
big,  and  her  back  was  up,  so  we  knew  something  had 
frightened  her,  and  crept  in  to  see  what  had  frightened  her. 
In  the  middle  of  the  room  was  a  great  chair,  and  from 
that  chair  was  something  hanging  down,  something 
furry.  We  went  near  to  see  what  it  could  be.  It 
looked  like  a  dog's  head  upside  down.  It  was  a  dog's 
head  upside  down.  Cats  that  have  always  seen  dogs' 
heads  upside  up,  have  no  idea  how  a  dog's  head  looks 
upside  down.  This  dog's  head  was  upside  down  and 
the  whole  dog  was  upside  down ;  upside  down  and 
asleep. 

"  Both  our  tails  began  to  grow  big.  We  left  the  room 
quickly,  and  softly  as  possible,  and  ran  through  a  long 
passage,  then  up-stairs,  then  through  another  long  pas- 
sage, and  then  we  heard  the  dog  coming,  barking  !  We 
ran  faster.  We  knew  he  was  on  the  stairs  ;  knew  he 
was   after    us.     We  got  to  the   end  of    a   long  passage. 


7 6  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  FUSSYANITA. 

The  bark  of  the  dog  sounded  nearer  and  nearer.  There 
was  no  way  out  of  the  passage.  Oh  what  a  moment  that 
was  !  I  saw  a  door.  I  sprang  up  twice,  and  opened  it  the 
second  time  trying.  I  tremble,  even  now,  to  think  what 
might  have  become  of  us  had  not  a  window  of  that  room 
been  open,  or  had  I  not  known  how  to  open  a  door.  We 
darted  through  that  window,  and  went  down  by  a  water- 
spout. The  dog  looked  out  and  turned  and  ran  down-stairs, 
by  the  time  he  was  in  the  yard  we  were  safe  on  a  shed. 


Oh  how  thankful  we  ought  to  be  that  dogs  cannot  climb  I 
"  I  was  saved,  but  in  my  haste  I  trod  on  a  tack  nail, 
and  it  stuck  in  my  paw  and  made  my  paw  in  great  pain. 
I  went  limping,  and  the  pain  of  the  paw  made  me  sick. 
My  dear  mistress !  How  good  she  was  to  me  !  She 
took  out  the  nail  and  bound  up  the  sore  place,  and  fed 
me  with  warm  sweetened  milk  and  water,  or  if  I  was 
thirsty,  gave  me  cool,  clear  water  to  lap,  and  held  me, 
and  made  for  me  a  soft  bed,  and  talked  to  me,  and  poored 
me.     Oh  how  pleasant  it  is  to  be  talked  to  and  poored ! 

"I  felt  so  grateful  to  my  dear  mistress*  that  as  soon 
as  I  was  well  I  went  out  to  catch  everything  I  could 
for  her— rabbits,  moles,  field-mice.  That  was  why  I 
became  a  hunter.  Everything  I  could  I  brought  in  and 
,sJ.d  at  her  feet,  because  I  wanted  to  please  her.  I 
would    not   eat  one   of  them  until  she  told  me  I  might. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  77 

I  never  ate  even  a  mouse  until  I  had  shown  it  to  her. 
Sometimes  I  bring  birds.  She  is  not  pleased  with  me, 
then.  She  scolds  me  when  I  bring  birds.  I  don't  know  why 
she  scolds  me  for  bringing  birds.  I  should  like  to  know 
the  renowned  Tabby    Furpurr  way  of  not  liking  birds. 

"  Scarcely  had  Madame  Pussy  Hunter  finished  when 
up  sprang  a  Spry  White  Kitten  and  hopped  out 
on  three  paws,  and  said:  '/  can  tell  a  story  of 
a  door  opening.'  Some  of  the  older  ones  tried  to  hiss 
her  down.  She  was  asked  if  her  story  would  tell  how 
she  lost  her  right  fore  paw.  Upon  learning  that  her 
story  would  tell  how  she  lost  her  right  fore  paw,  they 
asked  to  hear  what  the  Spry  White  Kitten  had  to  say. 


THE    SPRY    WHITE    KITTEN  S    STORY. 

"  It  is  a  short  story  that  I  am  going  to  tell,  but  f  wish 
to  tell  it.     I   wish  to  say  that  for  my  part  I   have  never 


7* 


KING  GR1MALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


came 

my  ears  and  I  have 

not    heard     well 


found  any  good  come  from 
knowing  how  to  open  doors. 
Not  that  I  know  how,  but 
my  mother  does.  She  opened 
a  door  the  other  day  to  show 
me  some  cream.    It  was  but- 
ter-cream streaming  down  a 
1     butter-churn.      She  told  me 
and  lick,  and  I   did,  and  a   man 
boxed 


since. 

"  An- 

other 

time    to 

p lease 

me,  she 

opened 

a    door 

and    let 

me  into  a  large  din- 

ng-room    that    had 

long    curtains    just 

right  to  scratch  and 


. ._.»-  -  '■"  — 


THE    CAT   WITH    HER    EARS   TIED    UP. 


OR   THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  Si 

to  climb  up  by,  and  a  funny  old  feather  hung  over  a  funny 
old  clock.  I  could  go  up  on  those  good  curtains,  and  jump 
to  the  clock  and  play  with  the  feather.  And  one  day  I 
meddled  with  the  clock  to  find  out  where  its  noise  came 
from,  and  was  caught  and  got  the  worst  whipping  I've 
ev^er  had  yet. 

"Then  here  is  my  brother  Bobby  hiding  yonder  behind 
Black  Velvet.  Why  does  he  hide  ?  His  ears  are  tied  up 
with  strings.  Bobby  likes  work-baskets.  He  teased  our 
mother  to  let  him  into  a  room  where  there  was  a  work-bas- 
ket. He  played  in  it,  and  the  girl  tied  his  ears  with  strings, 
and  he  ran  round,  and  rolled,  and  could  not  get  them 
off,  and  ran  into  a  coal-hole,  and  stayed  till  he  was  very 
hungry,  and  when  he  w7ent  into  the  house  he  went  to 
a  boy  that  was  sitting  on  the  floor  eating  milk.  That 
boy  did  not  give  him  any  milk.  No.  He  took  a  great 
cloth  and  tried  to  wash  Bobby's  paws  in  the  milk! 
Bobby  got  away,  and  now  he  has  come  to  this  famous 
party  with  his  ears  in  strings.  A  pretty  state  he  is  in 
to  come  to  a  famous  party  !  We  all  know  how  dreadful 
it  is  to  have  our  ears  meddled  with. 

"But  all  this  is  nothing  to  what  happened  afterwards. 
My  mother  opened  a  door  to  let  me  into  a  room  where 
there  was  a  mouse-hole.  Now  a  boy  had  put  in  that  room 
a  curious  thing.     I  went  close  up  to  it  to  see  what  it  was. 


82 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


It  was  a  crab,  but  I  did  not  know  that.  I  was  young. 
I  never  had  seen  a  crab.  I  touched  it  to  find  what  it 
was  made  of,  and  it  got  hold  of  my  leg  just  above  my 
paw.  I  never  screamed  so  in  all  my  life.  Oh  how  I 
did  scream  !  And  no  wonder.  My  leg  was  broke.  My 
paw  had  to  be  taken  off,  and  now  I  have  to  be  three- 
pawed.  Now  I  have 
to  go  limp,  limp,  hop- 
pertylimp!  Only  three 
y  paws  to  run  away 
1^  from  cruel  boys  with, 
and  barking  dogs ! 
Only  three  paws  to 
with !  Only 
paws  to  claw 
No  ;  as  for  me, 
/have  never  seen  much 
good  come  from  know- 
ing how  to  open 
doors  !  " 

"'You  had  better  sit  down,  Miss,'  exclaimed  Black  Vel- 
vet. '  Young  people  should  be  seen  and  not  heard.  We  are 
speaking  at  this  famous  party  of  the  good  of  knowing  how 
roopen  doors — not  of  the  bad.  Mrs.  Beulah  Black  is  present, 
ai  d  has  something  to  relate  which  all  will  like  to  hear/ 


climb 
three 
with ! 


IT   GOT    HOLD    OF   MY   LEG. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS 


&3 


MRS.  BEULAH  BLACKS  STORY. 

"In  me,  my  dear  Lady  Yellow-paw,  you  see  a  child 
of  the  unfortunate  Pussy  Gray  who  when  watching  for 
butterflies  was  stung  in  the  eye  by  a  bumble-bee  and 
went  crazy,  and  ran  away.  There  were  three  of  us  born 
on  the  same  day,  namely:  Lily,  Dinah  Dusky  and  myself, 
Beulah  Black.  Pussy  Gray  was  one  of  the  best  of 
mothers.  She  herself  cared  neither  for  rats,  mice,  nor 
moles.  She  liked  birds  and  bugs  and  was  very  fond  of 
butterflies.  But  she  would  sit  long  watching  at  a  hole  to 
catch  mice  or  moles  for  us,  and  then  she  would  bring 
them  to  us,  and  show  us  how  to  play  with  them,  and 
stand  looking  at  us  in  her  motherly  way.  She  grew  thin 
from  staying  in  to  take  care  of  us.  We  were  a  quarrel- 
some set. 

"  I  don't  know  what  became  of  Lily,  but  Dinah  Dusky 
went  when  she  was  very  young  to  live  in  a  corn  store.  I 
stayed  at  a  house  nearer  my  mother's  house,  and  it  was 
well  that  I  did,  for  at  the  time  she  got  stung  in  the  eye 


»4 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANIT. 


by  a  bumble-bee,  she  had  another  young  family,  and  I 
was  able  to  go  in  and  take  care  of  them,  and  to  punish 
them  when  they  needed  punishment.  I  was  then  a  mother 
myself  with  my  first  little  brood  around  me. 


"  I  remember  the  day  well.  My  mother  left  the  family 
and  went  into  the  garden  to  catch  butterflies.  If  she  did 
not  see  any  butterflies  it  was  her  custom  to  stand  still 
and  listen  for  the  sound  of  their  wings.  She  was  doing 
so   when   that   sad  thing   happened   to   her.      My  sister, 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


§5 


Dinah  Dusky,  had  come  that   day  to  see    my  dear  little 
beauties  and  we  two  went  out  together  to  catch  bugs  for 


them.     Our  mother  was  in  the  garden   not  far  from  us. 
She  stood  stock  still.     She  had  heard  the  sound  of  a  but- 


86  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

terfly's  wings.  An  instant  more  and  she  would  have 
turned  her  head. 

"Then  it  was  that  the  bumble-bee  stung  her  eye.  She 
ran.  We  ran.  We  could  not  catch  hei.  We  could  not 
think  what  made  her  behave  so.  She  ran  this  way  and 
that  way,  over  fences,  back  again,  through  bushes,  over 
bushes,  across  fields,  and  at  last  away  she  went  out  of 
sight  and  was  never  heard  from  afterwards.  Every  day 
my  sister  Dinah  Dusky  and  I  went  forth  to  look  for  our 
mother,  hoping  to  bring  her  home  to  her  young 
family. 

"  It  was  when  we  had  been  in  the  fields  looking  for  her 
that  we  saved  ourselves  by  my  sister's  quickness  in 
opening  a  door.     I  will  explain  how  this  happened. 

"  My  sister  and  I  went  into  a  swamp  to  look  for  our 
mother,  and  we  caught  sight  of  a  rabbit  there.  We  lay 
down  close  to  the  ground,  and  crept,  crept,  crept,  softly 
along,  not  making  a  bit  of  noise.  Sometimes  we 
stopped  creeping  ;  then  we  crept ;  then  we  stopped ;  then 
we  crept,  getting  all  the  time  nearer  and  nearer.  The 
rabbit  was  asleep  part  way  under  a  log.  We  had  crept 
very  near  when  all  at  once  we  heard  the  bark  of  a  dog. 
Dreadful  sound!  In  an  instant  we  were  on  our  feet  and 
running.  We  ran  towards  a  house.  At  first  the  dog  did 
not  see  us.    Then  he  saw  us  and  ran  after  us,  barking.     Oh 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


87 


how  frightened  we  were  !  We  ran  faster  but  he  ran 
faster  than  we.  He  came  near  us,  barking,  barking, 
barking,  oh  it  was  terrible !  For  he  came  so  close  to  me 
that  I  felt  his  breath.  He  caught  me  by  the  back  of  the 
neck,  and  just  then  a  boy  called  him  off,  and  he  dropped 
me  and  went  to  the  boy.  I  ran  on.  My  sister  had  gone 
far  ahead.  V/e  ran  towards  the  back  of  the  house.  The 
dog  came  again.  We  heard  him  coming  afar  off.  He 
would  not  stay  with  the  boy.  I  almost  died  with  fright. 
There  wasn't  a  tree  nor  a   clothes-pole  near.      But   there 


THE   CAT    THAT   WAS    STEALING    MILK. 


was  a  door  that  my  sister  had  opened  before  at  times 
when  it  was  necessary  that  she  should  get  something  to 
eat  without  being  seen.     She  opened  this  door  now,  and 


88  KING  GRIMAIKUM  AND  PUSS  YANITA. 

frightened  a  cat  that  was  there  stealing  milk  out  of 
a  pitcher,  and  made  her  tip  over  the  pitcher. 

"  We  went  in  and  ran  through  a  back  shed  to  the  bam. 
I  sprang  up  on  a  hay  rack,  and  my  sister  —  all  at  this 
famous  party  will  be  surprised  to  hear  what  my  sister 
did.     My  sister  sprang  up  on  the  horse's  back  ! 

"  We  were  not  a  minute  too  quick.  We  just  saved 
ourselves.  The  dog  was  close  behind.  But  he  could  not 
get  at  us  and  he  had  to  go  away. 

"  I  have  more  to  tell.  That  horse  and  my  sister 
became  friends.  When  he  stayed  in  the  barn  she  used 
to  stay  on  his  back.  He  liked  to  have  her  stay  there. 
He  could  not  bear  to  be  without  her.  He  was  not  easy 
unless  she  came  and  stayed  on  his  back. 

"  The  man  said  it  would  not  do.  He  said  it  would 
hurt  the  horse  and  they  carried  him  far  away. 

"  Now  comes  the  sorrowful  part.  My  sister  mourned 
so  for  the  horse  that  she  would  not  eat.  She  would  only 
lap  a  little  water  sometimes.  She  grew  weak  and  thin. 
She  did  not  clean  her  fur.  She  would  stay  in  the  barn 
and  lie  down  on  the  spot  where  the  horse  used  to  stand. 
At  last  she  was  seen  no  more  and  after  a  long  time  she 
was  found,  dead,  high  up  on  a  hay-mow  in  a  far 
corner ! 

"  This    is    all    I    have    to   say,  your   ladyship,   but  my 


MY    SIS1XK    SPKAKCJ    U'i'    UN    TI1K    UuKSi:'-  J.A(  K' 


S9 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


9* 


younger  brother  David  is  here.  Though  now  bigger  than 
I,  he  was  once  smaller.  He  was  one  of  the  young  kittens 
our  mother  left  when  she  went  out  to  catch  butterflies 
and  was  stung  in  the  eye  by  a  bumble-bee.  David  will 
tell  you  of  a  time  when  he  opened  a  door  and  ran  away, 
and  why  he  ran  away." 

All  present  said  they  would  like  to  hear  David's  Story, 
and  he  began  as  follows  : 


DAVID  S    STORY. 

"  I  was  one  of  the  young  kittens  Pussy  Gray  left  when 
she  went  out  to  catch  butterflies.  My  sister  Beulah 
Black  has  told  you  what  happened  to  Pussy  Gray,  how 
she  went  crazy  and  went  nobody  knew  where,  and  was 
never  heard  from  afterwards. 

"  My  Sister  Beulah  Black  had  a  young  family  of  her 
own,  and  one  day  she  tried  to  carry  us  to  her  house,  in 
order  that  she  might  not  have  to  be  all  the  time  running 
back  and  forth.      It  happened  that  I  dropped  into  a  hole, 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


and  she  could  not  get  me  out.  She  had  to  leave  mc. 
Now  this  was  lucky  for  me,  for  the  others  of  my  mother's 
young-  family,  and  all  but  one  of  my  sister  Beulah 
Black's  young  family  were  sent  away  and  lost.  I  have 
often  wondered  why  it  is  that  so  many  little  kittens  are 
sent  away  and  lost. 

"  Only  for  falling  in  that  hole  I  might  not  be  here.  But 
I  came  near  dying  there.  When  taken  out  I  was  almost 
starved  to  death.  I  could  not  move;  I  could  not  make  a 
sound.  Girl-Nellie  took  me  out  and  kept  me  for  her 
own.     She  made  me  a  cotton-wool    bed  in  a  cricket,  she 

covered  me  over 
with  silk,  she  fed 
me  with  a  spoon, 
she  held  me  just 
as  if  I  had  been  a 
baby.  And  when 
I  grew  larger  she 
used  to  rock  me 
in  the  baby's  cra- 
dle and  sing  to  me. 
She  took  turns 
rocking  me  and 
her  dolly,  and  when  dolly  was  being  rocked  I  sat 
and     waited     ror    my     turn     to     be     rocked     and     sung 


SHE  TOOK   TURNS   ROCKING   ME   AND    HER    DOLLY. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


93 


to.  Oh,  how  I  did  love  my  little  mistress  !  I  wanted  to 
sit  on  her  lap.  I  wanted  to  be  with  her  a  great  deal.  I 
told  her  all  this,  though  perhaps  she  never  understood 
what  I  said.  I  knew  the  time  for  her  to  come  home 
from  school,  and  went  always  to  meet  her.  She  did  not 
know  how  I  knew  the  time.  People  do  not  know  how 
cats  know  things.  My  dear  mistress  would  not  let  boy- 
John  torment  me.  Boy -John  was  not  cruel,  but  he 
wished  me  to  sit  up  on  my  hind  legs,  and  to  hold  a 
stick,  and  to  jump  through  a  hoop.  It  was  easy  enough 
to  do  such  things  but  I 
did  not  like  to  do  them. 
Boy-John  used  to  say  to 
the  baby,  ■  Come  Baby, 
bring  David ! '  I  was  so 
big  then  that  baby  could 
hardly  lift  me,  but  he 
would  drag  me,  and  push 
me,  and  try  to  lift  me. 

"  Many  at  this  fa- 
mous party  have  spoken 
of  what  they  have  suf- 
fered from  cruel  boys  and  from  dogs,  but  nobody 
as  yet  has  spoken  of  a  baby.  Tongue  cannot  tell  what 
I  suffered  from  that  baby.     A  baby  will  step  on  any  part 


COULD    HARDLY   LIFT   ME. 


94  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

of  a  cat.  A  baby  will  sit  on  a  cat.  A  baby  does  not 
mind  what  part  of  a  cat  it  lifts  up  a  cat  by,  whether  by 
the  tail  or  by  a  leg,  or  by  the  head.  A  baby  will  pull 
your  ears,  will  stick  its  finger  in  your  eyes,  will  even 
meddle  with  your  smellers,  and  you  must  keep  from 
touching  it,  because  it  is  a  baby. 

"  I  never  did  touch  that  baby  to  hurt  it.  I  loved  that 
baby.  I  kept  my  claws  way  in  out  of  sight,  and  if  I  ever 
squealed  it  was  sometimes  when  he  sat  down  on  me 
hard,  and  squelched  the  squeal  out  of  me  before  I  knew 
it. 

"  I  come  now  to  something  painful  to  speak  of.  You 
will  be  surprised  to  learn  that  I  ran  away  froni.that  dear 
Nellie  mistress.     This  will  now  be  explained. 

"Unhappily  for  me,  I  had*  great-  skill  iii  charming 
birds,  and  I  was  as  fond  of  birdsj;\as  my  mother 
Pussy  Gray  was  of  butterflies.  I  mean  I  was  fond 
of  them  as  food,  not  as  friends.  There  was  no  cat 
anywhere  around  that  could  charm  a  bird  as  well  as 
I  could.  I  used  to  stay  under  a  tree  and  when  a  bird 
came  and  sat  on  a  bough  I  would  look  straight  up  at 
him,  and  then  he  could  not  fly  away.  He  would  cry, 
and  flutter  his  wings,  but  he  could  not  fly  away.  He 
would  have  to  drop. 

"I   used   to  carry  the    birds  to  my  dear  mistress,  for 


I    DROPPED    1'iiE   ULifJJ 


OR   THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.    ,  97 

I  wanted  to  please  her,  and  birds  were  the  best  things  1 
could  get.  But  she  was  not  pleased  ;  she  scolded  me. 
I  could  not  understand  why  she  praised  me  for  catching 
a  mouse  and  scolded  me  for  catching  a  bird.  A  bird  is 
better  than  a  mouse.  Pretty  soon  she  began  to  do  some- 
thing besides  to  scold.  I  was  punished  in  the  way  cats 
are  punished.  I  need  not  tell.  All  at  this  famous  party 
know.  After  I  had  been  punished  a  great  deal  I  kept 
away  from  trees.  But  one  day  I  was  in  a  window-seat, 
asleep.  The  window  was  swung  open,  and  I  lay  there  to 
enjoy  the  sunshine  and  fell  asleep.  The  noise  of  a  bird 
woke  me.  I  stretched  myself  out  flat  and  looked  up. 
The  bird  was  on  a  high  window  above.  When  I  had 
looked  at  it  a  little  while  it  began  to  cry,  and  then  it  flew 
down  to  the  top  of  the  window  that  was  swung  open.  It 
flew  lower  and  lower,  and  I  made  a  spring  and  caught  it. 
My  mistress  came  in  and  I  dropped  the  bird  on  the 
window-seat,  and  jumped  down  and  crept  away.  I  felt 
so  ashamed  I  did   not  know  what  to  do. 

I  was  not  whipped,  but  I  was  punished.  I  punished 
myself.  I  left  that  pleasant  home  and  my  dear  mistress. 
You  will  understand  why  when  I  explain. 

"That  night  my  mistress'  mother  said,  'We  cannot 
have  David  killing  so  many  birds.  Something  must  be 
done  with  him.     I  will  get  a  boy  to  do  something  with 


q8  king  grimalkum  and  puss  yanita. 

him  early  in  the  morning.'  I  knew  what  she  said.  I 
did  not  know  by  the  way  people  know.  I  knew  by  the 
cat-way  of  knowing,  and  not  by  the  people-way.  All 
present  at  this  famous  party  know  how  cats  know  what 
people  say.  I  understood  what  my  mistress  said,  but 
I  kept  still  under  a  table,  and  when  nobody  was  looking 
I  crept  under  the  chairs  out  into  the  back  room,  and 
opened  two  doors  and  ran  away,  far  away,  and  for  a  long 
time  I  lived  the  dreadful  life  of  a  cat  without  a  home. 

"  One  day  a  man  invited  me  to  go  home  with  him.  He 
keeps  a  store.  There  are  herring  and  eggs  in  the  store. 
I  have  lived  there  quite  a  long  time.  I  want  to  go  back 
to  my  dear  mistress,  but  I  am  afraid  they  will  get  a  boy 
to  do  something  with  me.  I  like  to  suck  eggs,  though 
as  my  master  keeps  a  stick  I  do  not  take  any  except  the 
broken  ones  he  gives  me.  When  I  tease  for  herring  he 
gives  me  a  piece.  I  watch  people  and  if  they  touch 
anything  that  belongs  to  my  master  I  lay  my  paw  on 
them  and  speak. 

"  Scarcely  had  David  finished  when  out  popped  two 
gray  little  kittens,  twins,  both  named  Kittywinks,  saying: 

"'We  are  the  Kitty winkses,  and  we've  come  to  this 
famous   party.' 

"  Lady  Yellow-paw  waved  her  paw  and  said  :  '  One 
Kittywinks    at   a   time,  my   dears.' 


THE  GOOD   CHILD-BABY. 


99 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  101 

"  One  Kittywinks  then  said  :  ■  David  talked  about  a 
child-baby.  Call  bad.  Child-baby  not  bad.  We've  got 
a  child-baby.  He  does  not  step  on  us.  He  does  not  sit 
down  on  us.  He  does  not  squelch  us.  He  does  not 
hurt.  He  touches  us  softly.  He  would  never  tie  strings 
on  our  ears.  He  poors  us,  and  strokes  us,  and  lets  us 
sit  on  chairs  and  sofas  with  him,  and  crawl  all  over  him, 
and  play  with  his  curls,  and  play  with  his  beads,  and  play 
with  his  playthings.  He  likes  us,  only  he  does  not  like  to 
have  us  kiss  him  with  our  noses,  but  with  our  mouths, 
but  we  don't  know  how  to  kiss  with  our  mouths,  and 
we   have  to   kiss  with   our  noses.' 

"And  the  Kittywinkses   capered  back  to  their  places. 

"  All  present  at  Lady  Yellow-paw's  famous  party  were 
pleased  with  the  Kittywinkses,  and  no  wonder,  for  they 
were  a  merry  pair  of  twins,  and  not  much  like  the  sour 
faced  ones,  Tweedledum  and  Tweedledee,  called  in  the 
story,  Dum  and  Dee." 

"  What  story  ?  "  cried  King  Grimalkum  in  a  stern  voice. 

"The  story  of  the  renowned  Tabby  Furpurr,"  an- 
swered the  lovely  Pussyanita.  "  Tabby  Furpurr  who 
found  out  a  way  of  not  liking  birds,  and  had  her  picture 
taken   and  set   in   a  frame." 

"  I  wish  to  hear  the  story,"  cried  the  King.     "  Tell  it." 


102 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYAN1TA. 


"With  pleasure,  your  majesty,"  replied  the  lovely 
Pussyanita,  "  but  to  do  so  will  take  a  longer  time  than  I 
have  to  live." 

"  Time  shall  be  granted  you,"  answered  the  king. 
"Tell  all  you  ever  heard  of  Tweedledum  and  Tweedledee, 
and  of  the  renowned  Tabby  Furpurr." 

The  lovely  Pussyanita  bowed  and  began  to  tell  all  she 
had  ever  heard  of  Tweedledum  and  Tweedledee  and  of 
the  renowned  Tabby  Furpurr. 


TWEEDLEDUM  AND  TWEEDLEDEE. 

"  In  the  days  when  Mouseroun  al  Ratchid  was  King  of 
all  the  Cats,  it  was  his  custom  to  disguise  himself  in 
mealbag  powder  and  walk  about  the  country  to  see  what 
he  could  see,  and  see  it  without  being  known. 

"One  cloudy  morning  soon  before  a  storm — the  time 
when  our  race  are  liveliest — Mouseroun  called  Phi,  his 
wisdom  cat,  and  the  two  set  forth  upon  their  travels. 
After  proceeding  quite  a  distance  they  came  in  sight  of  a 
small  boy  with  a  porridge  pot,  sitting  under  a  tree,  eating 
porridge.     A  white  cat  close  to  his  feet  begged  for  the 


THE   GOOD-KIND    BOY. 


I03 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  105 

porridge,  and  a  big  dog  stood  by  and  licked  the  boy's 
face  and  begged  for  porridge,  and  put  his  nose  in  the 
boy's  bread-bag. 

" '  Of  what  kind  is  the  boy?  '  asked  Mouseroun  of  Phi. 

"  '  Of  the  good  kind,'  replied  Phi. 

"'How   knowest   thou   that,   oh  Phi?' 

"'Because  the  dog  and  cat  come  close  and  show  no 
fear.     They   ask   for   food,  sure   of  getting   it.' 

'"Tell  me,  oh  learned  Phi,  why  a  boy  has  long  claws 
only   on  his  fore  legs.' 

"  '  Because  his  hind  legs  are  for  walking  and  standing,' 
replied  Phi;  'and  for  walking  and  standing,  short  claws 
are    better  than    long  claws.' 

"'Tell  me  further,'  inquired  Mouseroun,  '  why  a  cat 
mews  and  a  dog  barks.' 

"  '  For  the  same  reason  that  a  cow  moos  and  a  horse 
neighs,  and  a  pig  squeals,  and  a  bird  sings,  and  a  frog 
croaks,  and  people  speak,'  answered  Phi.  '  Of  course  all 
these  would  mew  if  they  could,  but  as  they  cannot  mew 
they   must   do  what   they  can   do.' 

"  '  And  why,  oh  Phi,  are  some  cats  born  white,  and 
others  black,  and  others  gray,  and  others  of  divers 
colors? ' 

"  '  Because,'  answered  Phi, '  it  takes  all  kinds  of  cats  to 
make  a  world.' 


io6 


KING  GR1MALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


"  Just  at  this  moment  a  young  black  and  white  cat 
came  up  and  began  spitting  at  the  dog,  and  clawing  the 
cat,  and  biting  the  boy's  toes.  When  the  dog  growled, 
the  cross  cat  ran  out  of  sight. 

" '  Shall  we  go  on  and  observe  what  that  ill  behaved 
creature   will   do   next  ? '  asked  Phi. 

"  '  By  all  means,'  answered  Mouseroun, '  but  look  where 
at  yonder  window  a  ribboned  white  cat  sits  stiff  and 
straight,  gazing  at  something  afar.  Let  us  hasten 
thither.' 

"  They  hastened,  and  when  they  reached  the  window 
Mouseroun  asked  of 
the  ribboned  white 
cat :  '  Oh,  ribboned 
white  cat,  sitting  stiff 
and  straight  gazing  at 
something  afar,  at  what 
art  thou  gazing,  and 
what  is  thy  name  ?  ' 

" '  I  am  gazing  at 
flies,'  answered  the  rib- 
boned white  cat, 'and  I   am  called   Cupep   the    Careful; 

"  Mouseroun  made  a  sign  to  Phi  to  ask  of  the  ribboned 
white  cat  why  he  was  called  Cupep  the  Careful.  Phi  did 
so. 


CUPEP   THE   CAREFUL. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


107 


"'  Because  I  can  be  trusted,'  replied  the  ribboned  white 
cat  to  Phi,  'and  trusted  in  any  place,  among  china,  glass, 
pictures,  bottles,  papers,  no  matter  how  high  the  shelf, 
how  narrow,  or  how  full.  I  step  in  and  out  so  carefully 
that  no  harm  is  ever  done.  Nobody  minds  even  if  I  step 
on  the  baby's  face.  You  see  I  am  allowed  here  with 
papers  and  a  bottle  and  feather,  easy  to  upset.  All  this 
is  why  I  am  called  Cupep  the  Careful.  I  shall  presently 
sit  on  the  paper,  and  to  sit  on  paper  is  pleasant.' 

"  As  Cupep  the  Careful  finished  telling  why  he  was 
called  Cupep  the  Careful,  Mouseroun  drew  Phi's  attention 
to  two  dark  objects  sitting  in  a  barn  at  some  distance. 
Bidding  Cupep  the  Careful  good  morning  they  went 
towards  the  barn  and  found  that  the  two  dark  objects 
were    two     black    and    white    young   cats.       Said     Phi, 

'  These  must  be  the  sour 
faced  twins,  Tweedledum 
and  Tweedledee,  called 
Dum  and  Dee.  I •  have  often 
heard  of  them,  but  never 
any  good.' 

"  They  went  nearer.    The 
sour    faced  twins    sat    side 
by    side  looking  cross  and 
unhappy.       Mouseroun  motioned  to  Phi  to  address  them. 


TWEEDLEDUM   AND    TWEEDLEDEE. 


ioS 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYAN1TA. 


"  'Are  you  not  the  twins  Tweedledum  and  Tweedledee, 
called  Ditm  and  Dee?'  asked  Phi,  'and  is  it  not  one  of 
you  which  shortly  ago  bit  the  toes  of  a  boy,  and  spit  at 
his  clog,  and  clawed  his  catf ' 

"'It  was  I,'  said  Tweedledee,  'who  did  that.  I  could 
not  maul  Cupep  the  Careful  and  I  meant  to  maul 
somebody.  I  will  maul  him  if  I  can.  The  stuck-up 
thing!  Everybody  praises  him.  He  has  a  watch  to 
wear.  Nobody  praises  me  and  I  have  not  even  a 
ribbon.     He  has   had    his   picture    taken   and    hung   up. 

Why  don't  they  take  my  picture?' 

'"They'd  much  better  take  mine,' 
snarled  Tweedledum.  '  I've  been 
crying  to  have  my  picture  taken  ever 
since  I  saw  that  one  of  Tabby  Fur- 
purr  who  found  out  a  w7ay  of  not 
likine  birds,  and  on  that  account  had 
her  picture  taken  and  set  in  a  pussy 
willow  frame.  They  won't  take  my  picture.  But 
I'll  be  even  with  them.  I  get  hold  of  the  clock  strings, 
I  tangle  yarn,  I  won't  purr,  I  climb  posts  and  tear 
down  the  flowers,  I  scratch  the  baby's  face,  I  pull  away 
his  playthings,  I  wait  on  the  doorstep  and  bite  his  fingers, 


I   BITE  THE   BABY'S    FINGERS 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  m 

wtien  he  tries  to  reach  me,  and  I  kill  birds.  Fm  not  going 
to  find  a  way  of  not  liking  birds  if  they  won't  have 
my  picture  taken  !  I  am  better  looking  than  Tabby  Fur- 
purr  ;  I'm  sweet  and  lovely.' 

"  '  I  am  sweet  and  lovely  myself,'  said  Dee. 

"  'You're  not! '  said  Dtim. 

"  '  I  am  ?  '  said  Dee. 

" '  Say  it  again  ! '  said  Dum. 

"  '  I  do  say  it  again  ! '  said  Dee. 

"  '  Take  that ! '  said  Dum. 

" '  Take  that ! '  said  Dee.  And  the  two  seemed  as  if  they 
would  tear  each  other's  eyes  out,  so  that  Mouseroun  was 
wroth,  and  Phi  had  much  ado  to  keep  him  from  punish- 
ing them  both  on  the  spot. 

"'A  future  time  is  better,'  said  Phi.  'To  act  in  an^er 
is  to  make  ourselves  like  these.  Come,  let  us  go  and 
seek  out  the  much  renowned  Tabby  Furpurr  who  found 
out  a  way  of  not  liking  birds,  and  who  on  that  account 
had  her  picture  taken  and  set  in  a  pussy-willow  frame. 

"  Mouseroun  and  Phi  pursued  their  journey,  rambling 
hither  and  thither,  listening  to  the  speech  of  bees,  flies, 
bugs,  worms,  toads  and  frogs,  and  to  the  butterflies'  happy 
hum,  which  is  too  faint  to  be  heard  by  the  clumsy  ears 
of  people  —  people  who  think  they  hear  everything  ana 
hear  so  little  ! 


ii2  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

"  '  Dost  thou   know/  asked   Mouseroun  at  last,  '  where 
dwelleth  this  renowned  Tabby  Furpurr?' 

"  '  I  have  not  that  knowledge,'  replied  Phi.     '  She  must 


TABBY   FURPURR. 


be  now  quite  aged,  and  therefore  well  known  hereabouts. 
Yonder  is  a  young  Persian,  all  so  happy  with  her  three 
kittens,  as  soft  and  white  as  herself.      I  will  inquire  of  her 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


"3 


concerning  Tabby  Furpurr,  As  they  approached  the 
young  Persian,  Phi  inquired  of  her,  '  Dost  thou  know 
Mistress  Tabby   Furpurr,  young  Persian,  and  canst  thou 

direct      us     to     her 
abode  ?  ' 

"'  I  know  Mistress 
Furpurr  well 
enough,'  said  the 
young  Persian,  'but 
I  decline  to  direct 
you  to  her  abode.  It 
is  too  much  trouble,' 
"  '  We  are  anxious 
to  find  her,'  said 
Phi,  '  and  we  are 
weary  with  travel.' 

"  •  No  doubt,'  re- 
plied  the  Persian; 
'  but  I  prefer  to  stay 
and  enjoy  the  com- 
pany of  my  children/ 

'"And  wilt  thou  not  direct  us  ?'  asked  Phi. 
"  Answered  the  young  Persian, '  I  have  said  what  I  have 
said.' 

" '  Good  day,   then/  said     Phi,    and    he    drew    Mous- 


THE   HAPPY   YOUNG   PERSIAN. 


H4 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


eroun  away,    fearing    he    might     do     something     rash. 
"'  Canst  thou  explain,'  asked  Mouseroun  of  Phi  as  they 
journeyed  on,  '  why  the  young  Persian  should  refuse  to 
please    others    when  she  is  herself  so  happy  ?  ' 

" '  The  most  happy  are  often  the  most  selfish,'  replied 
Phi.  '  Those  who  have  known  unhappiness  are  likely  to 
feel  pity.' 

"  A  little  farther  on  they  looked  in  at  a  great  stone 
doorway  and  there  they  spied  a  rat  which  had  hidden  in  a 
dark  corner  to  eat  a  head  of  wheat.     '  Rats  are  wise,'  said 

Phi,  '  perhaps  yon- 
der fellow  may  direct 
us  to  Mistress  Tabby 
Furpurr.' 

"  But  as  they  drew 
near  to  inquire  of 
the  rat,  he  dropped 
his  wheat  and  fled. 

"  '  Now7,  why  was 
that  ?  '  asked  Mous- 
eroun. '  We  meant 
him  no  harm.' 

THE    RAT.  .  ,  .    ,       _,    . 

"  «  A  rat,  said  Phi, 
'  must  judge  by  what  has  been  done,  not  by  what  is 
meant.     After  all  that  has   been  done  by  cats  to  rats,  it 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


"5 


will  take  a  long  time  to  make  rats  believe  that  cats  mean 
rats    no    harm. 

" '  I  fear  we  shall  not  get  any  rat  to  direct  us  to  the  abode 

of  Mistress   Furpurr.' 

"  Phi  was  mistak- 
en.    Soon  after,  in 
passing  a  barn  they 
heard     much     stir 
and  scampering  in- 
side.       '  Wherever 
there  is  a  stir  and 
a  scampering,'  said 
Phi,    ' we    may    be 
sure  there  is  some- 
thing going  on    in- 
side.' 
"  Mouseroun  was  eager  to 
enter,  but  Phi  held  him  back 
lest  harm   might  befall   him  and 
himself  stepped  forward. 

"'Rats,'  he  whispered,  as  he 
stepped  back. 

"  There  were  six  rats  inside 
the  barn  ;  a  father,  mother  and 
four   children  had  come  to  visit 


TAKEN    IN    A   TRAP. 


n6  KING  GRIMAIKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

one  of  the  family  that  had  been  taken  in  a  trap.  The 
mother  looked  in  at  the  front  of  the  cage,  the  father 
looked  down  from  over  the  top.  As  Mouseroun  and 
Phi  drew  near,  the  father,  mother  and  four  children  fled 
to  their  holes. 

"The  rat  in  the  cage  when  questioned  by  Phi,  said  he 
had  been  told  by  his  parents  not  to  go  in,  but  he  thought 
he  knew  best,  and  he  did  not  believe  the  trap  would  shut 
down  so  quick. 

"  Did  he  know  where  Mistress  Tabby  Furpurr  lived  ? 
and  would  he  tell  ? 

"  Oh  yes,  he  had  reasons  for  knowing  where  Mistress 
Tabby  Furpurr  lived,  and  he  would  tell,  and  he  did  tell 
and  with  a  kind  good  day,  Mouseroun  and  Phi  passed  on 
their  way. 

'"I  observed,'  said  Mouseroun  to  Phi,  as  they  passed 
on  their  way,  'that  the  rat  in  the  trap  showed  no  fear  of 
us.     How  was  that  ?  ' 

"  '  It  must  have  been,'  said  Phi,  '  that  he  knew  we  could 
not  get  at  him.' 

"'True,'  said  Mouseroun.  'Thou  art  truly  a  Cat  of 
Wisdom.' 

"  Not  very  long  after  this,  Mouseroun  and  Phi  reached 
the  abode  of  the  renowned  Tabby  Furpurr  and  heard  the 
story  of  her  life. 


WE    WENT    BACK 


OR   THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


STORY    OF    MISTRESS    TABBY    FURPURR. 

"  I  was  one  of  two  kittens  born  in  a  respectable  corner 
of  a  garret.  My  twin  sister  was  sickly  and  died  at  an 
early  age,  and  my  mother,  being  lonely,  stole  a  black  kit- 
ten from  another  cat.  The  black  kitten's  mother  came  to 
get  her,  but  my  mother  was  big  and  strong  and  with  the 
help  of  my  two  older  sisters  she  drove  away  the  black 

kitten's      mother     and 
kept  the  black  k  tten. 

"  I  did  not  like  that 
black  kitten.  She  was 
coarse-haired,  she  bit 
my  tail,  and  when  I 
had  spools,  or  marbles, 
or  knitting-work  to  play 
with,  she  got  them 
away  from  me. 

"  One  day  when  she 
bit  my  tail  I  flew  at  her  throat  and  gave  it  a 
bad  bite  and  made  it  bleed.  I  never  saw  her  after- 
wards. I  did  not  know  what  became  of  her  but  I 
never  saw  her  afterwards,  except  in  dreams.     I  had  dread- 


THE    BLACK    KITTEN. 


120 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


ful  dreams.     Once  I  dreamed  I  saw  her  sitting  over  the 
fireplace,  holding  her  paw  to  her  throat,  and  next  time  I 

dreamed  she  came  close  to  me  with 
her  mouth  and  eyes  wide  open  and 
glared  at  me. 

"  My  older  sisters  grew  so  large 
that  the  people  thought  they  would 
send  me  and  my  mother  away.  They 
got  us  into  a  basket,  and  shut  down 
the  covers  quick,  and  carried  us  very 
far.  They  thought  my  mother  would 
never  find  the  way  back.  My  mother  did.  We  got  home 
at  night,  but  my  mother  climbed  up  to  the  house  top 
with  me  in  her  mouth  and  jumped  through  a  window  that 
she  knew  in  the  roof  and  in  the 
morning  they  found  us  on  the  rug. 

"  Not  long  after  this  my  mother 
was  shot  for  her  beautiful  skin.  I 
was  so  lonely  that  I    mourned  very 


wiiiiiiiiiijiiujiiyuiiiuiiiuiiiiijijiuiiiiiiiii^iuiiiiijiiiiijuttitijii 


FIRST   DREAM. 


much.     The  doo:  took 


of  me.       I 


SECOND    DREAM. 


did  not  think  Nep  would  be  so  kind, 
for  sometimes  he  had  barked  at  mc-  but  when  he 
knew  I  was  sorry  and  lonesome  he  asked  me  to  snuggle 
close  to  him  and  if  any  people  touched  me  he  drov^ 
them   away. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


"-*> 


"  When     my    older    sisters    saw    me    with     Nep   they 
wanted  to  come  and  he  let  them  cmoe.     We  warmed  our 
feet  in  his  hair.     My  sisters  were  too  lazy  to  play,  but  one 
of   them    used    to   catch  fleas  in   his 
hair.     I   did    not    like  to  catch   fleas. 
I  liked  to  scamper  up  and  down  his 
big    sides   and    tickle    his    paws,  and 
his  nose.     He  used  to  give  me  some 
of   his    meat.      He  did   not  give  my 
sisters    any.        I    will    now     explain 
why  I  left  Nep  and  that  house. 

"  A  pretty-faced  white  kitten  used  to  come  and  play 
with  me  sometimes.  One  day  when  I  was  asleep  on  the 
door-mat,  I  was  waked  by  a  small  noise  and  there  was 
the  white  kitten's  face  looking  in  at  the  door.  She 
wanted  me  to  go  and  see  two  rats.  She  said  two  rats 
went  every  day  to  a  place  to  sit  in  the  sun  and  we  could 
stay  behind  a  rock  and  peep  at  them. 

"  I  went  with  her  to  see  the  rats.  They  were  too  big 
for  us  to  meddle  with,  but  we  could   peep  at  them. 

"The  white  kitten  liked  to  frolic  and  we  raced 
over  the  fields  and  on  the  fences  as  much  as  we 
wanted    to. 

"  All  at  once  we  heard  a  noise.  People  came.  The 
white    kitten    got    away    but     a    man    caught    me,    and 


I24 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYAN1TA. 


THE    TWO     RATS     IN     THE    SUN. 


carried    me    in    some  whistling  cars  to  his  home.       He 
wanted    to    keep    me.       I    was    afraid    to    stay    in    that 

strange  place  and  I  squeezed 
out  through  a  hole  in  the 
cellar. 

"  Then  something  dreadful 
happened.  I  was  chased  by 
boys.  They  were  dreadful 
boys.  They  hurt  me.  They 
made  me  tremble.  They  did 
things  too  cruel  to  mention. 
"They  set  a  dog  on  me.  I  could  hardly  move,  I  trembled 
so.  I  crept  under  a  rail  and  the  dog  stayed  there,  barking 
I  thought  he  would  seize  me,  but  before  he  did  it  a  boy 
came  and  took  me  and  treated  me  kindly,  and  carried  me 
in  his  arms  to  his  own  home  and  took  care  of  me. 

"  Oh  how  I  did  love  that  boy  !  I  wanted  to  stay  with 
him  all  the  time. 

"  Every  day  when  he  went  to  school  he  let  me  go 
with  him  as  far  as  the  bridee. 

"  Then  I  would  look  up  in  his  face  and  mew,  '  Mayn't 
I   go  further  ?  ' 

"  He  would  lift  up  his  finger  and  say,  '  No,  Tabby  Fur- 
purr.  Go  back  ! '  And  I  always  went  back.  But  when  it 
was  time  for  him  to  come  home  I  went  to  the  bridge  and 


THE  BOY  THAT  TREATED  ME  KINDLY. 


I25 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


12 


HE    NIBBLES   THE   PINK. 

my  tail  and  went  back  to  the  boy's 
house  to  stay.  A  girl  lived  in 
boy's  house,  and  she 
tamed  a  mouse.  It 
stayed  in  a  box.  One 
day  the  boy  looked  at 
me  hard,  and  lifted 
up  his  finger  and  said, 
Tabby  Furpurr,  you 
have  had  enough  to 
eat.  This  mouse  is 
not  for  you.        I  am 


waited  till  he  came  and  then  went 
to  the  house  with  him.  The  bov's 
dog  did  not  like  to  have  the  boy 
like  me  so  much.  He  was  not 
so  good  as  Nep.  He  would  not 
let  me  warm  my  feet  in  his  hair. 
He  looked  at  me  when  I  stole 
cream  or  custard.  If  they  caught 
me  stealing  cream  or  custard,  I 
hung  my  tail  and  went  over  to 
the  grandma  house  to  stay, 
When  grandma  caught  me  steal 
ing      I    hung 


/2& 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


going    to    let     this     mouse    out.     Don'c  you    touch  this 


mouse 


uo  you  near?     Don  t  you  touch  it 7' 


"  1  knew  what  he  said,  and  I  never  did  touch  that  mouse. 

The  girl  played  with  it  and  let  it  stay  in  her  work  basket. 

It  liked  to  nibble  green  things  that  were  brought  into  the 

house. 

"  One    day    it   got    at  a   flower   that    the   girl   put   in 

water  and    hung  up,    and  it   nibbled  the    flower.      One 

day  it  was  nibbling  something  green  and  it  knocked  over 

the  thing  the  green  was  in 
and  spilt  the  water  on  me 
and  scared  me,  and  made  me 
jump,  though  I  was  quite 
an  old  cat  then,  and  could 
not  jump  as  spry  as  a  kitten. 
"It  was  at  this  time  that 
I  had  my  fight  with  a  woods 
cat.  She  came  to  our  barn. 
I  never  saw  her  before.  I 
went  to  the  barn  to  sret 
some  catnip.  There  was 
catnip  among  the  hay,  and 
when  I  felt  that  I  needed 
catnip  I  went  and  picked  it 

out  of  the  hay.    That  woods  cat  came  to  get  some  of  the 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


I2Q 


catnip,  but  she  had  no  right  there.  It  was  in  a  place  under 
the  haymow  and  a  great  deal  of  the  catnip  hay  was  there. 
The  woods  cat  was  sitting  on  it,  pawing  it  with  her  paw. 

"  She  flew  at  me,  and 
we  had  a  fight.  She 
would  have  killed  me  if 
the  girl  had  not  come 
with  a  broom. 

"  I  was  a  bad  looking 
cat.  I  went  lame  and 
had  salve  on  me.  The 
girl  took  care  of  me,  and 
as  soon  as  I  could  walk 
she  let  me  go  in  the  gar- 
den with  her  when  she 
picked  flowers.  I  liked 
to  go  into  the  garden. 
She  used  to  sit  under  a 
tree  and  read  a  book,  and  I  used  to  sit  on  the  seat  close 
to  her,  and  if  she  stroked  me  I  purred  loud. 

"  But  she  found  out  I  liked  birds.  She  saw  me  under  a 
currant-bush  eating  a  bird,  and  whipped  me  with  a  stick 
and  said,  '  Shame,  Tabby  Furpurr  !  Shame  on  you  to  eat 
a  little  bird?'  And  I  went  to  the  grandma  house  to 
stay. 


i3o  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSS Y ANITA. 

"  A  bird  came  to  live  in  our  house.  It  lived  in  a  cacre 
high  on  the  wall.  The  boy  showed  me  the  bird  and 
looked  at  me  hard,  and  lifted  up  his  ringer  and  said, '  Tabby 
Furpurr,  don't  you  touch  that  bird.  That  bird  is  not  for 
you.     Don V you  touch  that  bird!' 

"  I  did  not  mean  to  do  anything  to  that  bird.  But  it 
kept  moving  and  hopping,  and  shaking  its  wings,  and 
skaking  its  tail,  and  it  made  me  look  at  it ;  and  one  day 
when  it  shook  itself  very  much  I  looked  at  it  a  long  time 
and  at  last  I  jumped  at  it.  Before  I  knew  what  I  was 
going  to  do  I  jumped  at  it,  and  the  cage  fell  down.  I 
could  not  get  the  bird.     He  kept  himself  in  a  corner. 

"  The  boy's  dog  barked  and  ran  to  tell  the  people  some- 
thing was  the  matter,  and  they  all  came  and  spoke  loud 
and  held  up  their  fingers  and  cried  'Shame!  Shame  !  ' 

"  I  went  over  to  the  grandma  house  and  hid  under  a  bed 
and  stayed  till  I  was  almost  starved.  Then  I  crawled  out 
and  put  my  paw  on  grandma's  foot,  and  looked  up  in  her 
face  and  she  gave  me  some  milk,  and  let  me  warm  me  at 
her  fire. 

"  Something  happened  to  her  duck.  It  let  its  little  ducks 
go  with  it  under  the  bridge  to  the  pond,  and  it  got 
itself  killed.  There  was  a  rat  there,  and  it  was  going  to 
get  one  of  her  little  ducks,  and  she  began  to  fight  the  rat, 
and  the  mother  rat  came  out  and  helped  fight  the  duck, 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  133 

and  the  boy  drove  them  away,  but  afterwards  the  duck 
died  and  left  the  little  ducks. 

"  But  grandma  had  a  barn  cat.  She  was  not  a  Tabby. 
She  was  only  a  black  and  white  cat,  but  she  was  a  very 
o-ood  Cat.  She  never  would  touch  a  bird  or  a  chicken, 
and  she  never  would  suck  an  egg.  She  did  not  like  me. 
She  would  not  let  me  come  in  her  barn.  I  did  not  let  her 
come  in  my  barn.  She  was  a  good  cat  for  not  liking 
birds. 

"  The  boy  carried  the  little  ducks  to  the  barn  and  tried 
to  make  a  hen  that  was  there  take  care  of  them.  She 
would  not  do  that.  She  went  and  left  them.  She  would 
not  scratch  up  worms  for  them.  The  other  ducks  would 
not.  They  had  to  take  care  of  their  own  children,  and 
these  little  ducks  stayed  all  alone  by  themselves,  and  cried 
for  their  mother. 

"  Now  that  barn  cat,  though  she  was  only  a  black  and 
white  cat  and  not  a  Tabby,  sat  down  there  with  the  little 
ducks  and  took  care  of  them.  Every  day  she  went  there 
and  stayed  with  the  ducks,  and  when  they  went  into  a 
puddle  she  mewed  for  them  to  come  back. 

"  When  she  sat  taking  care  of  the  little  ducks,  people 
used  to  come  and  look  at  her.  The  first  time  she  took 
care  of  them  grandma's  dog  barked  at  her.  When 
grandma  told  him  it  was  all   right,  and  let  him  see  her 


i.34 


KING  GR1MALKUM  AND  fl'SSYANITA. 


jtroke  the  barn  cat,  he  went  away,  but  sometimes  he 
came  to  look  at  that  cat  and  the  ducks  to  see  if  all  was 
right.  Sometimes  the  cat  would  spit  at  him.  She  would 
spit  at  anybody  that  touched  one  of  her  little  ducks. 
When  the  little  ducks  went  in  wet  places  she  took  them 
by  their  necks  and  brought  them  out,  and  she  carried 
them  by  their  necks  so  much  that  they  had  crooked 
necks.  One  day  a  strange  cat,  a  great  white  Tommy, 
came  and  looked  in  at  the  barn  door  when  she  was  stay- 
ing with  the  little  ducks  and  she  flew  at  him  quick,  and 
almost  clawed  his  eyes  out  and  he  was  glad  to  run. 

"  One  day  I  wanted  very 
much  to  taste  of  a  little  duck 
and  I  tried  to  get  one,  and  I 
hurt  its  leg,  and  she  clawed 
me  and  made  me  drop  it,  and 
grandma  shamed  me  and  I 
went  back  to  the  boy's  house 
and  hid  under  a  bed,  and 
when  I  was  almost  starved 
I  crawled  out  and  the  boy 
whipped  me  hard  and  carried 
me  back  to  the  grandma 
house,  and  into  Irer  barn,  and 
showed  me  that  barn  cat  with  the  little  ducks,  and  lifted 


(. 


\  i  W^Sm 


THE   DUCK'S    DEFENDEF. 


135 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


J37 


up  his  finger,  and  looked  at  me  hard,  and  whipped  me 
again  and  said:  'Tabby  Furpurr,  don't  you  see  that 
barn  cat  staying  with  ducks  and  not  eating  any?  And 
you  even  fly  at  birds  !  Don't  you  ever  touch  any  kind  of 
bird  again.  Do  you  hear?  Find  out  a  way  of  not  liking 
birds.    Find  out  a  way  of  not  liking  birds  !    Remember  I' 

"  I  knew  what  he  said,  though  not  in  the  way  people 
know.  I  knew  by  the  cat  way.  I  remembered  by  the 
cat  way  of  remembering.  I 
kept  very  still,  I  did  not  steal, 
and  when  they  thought  I  was 
asleep  I  was  finding  out  a 
way  of  not  liking  birds,  and 
after  I  found  it  out  I  never 
touched  a  bird  again,  nor  a 
duck,  nor  a  chicken.  I  stayed 
with  the  girl  under  the  tree 
and  never  touched  a  bird.  I 
watched  the  bird  in  the  cage 
when  he  hopped  and  shook  his  tail  and  did  not  jump  at 
him,  and  I  would  not  let  any  other  cat  touch  a  bird 
nor  a  duck  nor  a  chicken. 

"  One  day  when  some  killed  chickens  were  hanging  up, 
a  great  Maltese  cat  came  and  looked  at  them  and  was 
going  to  jump  for  them  but  I  spit  at  her  and  drove  her 


THEY   THOUGHT   I   WAS    ASLEEP. 


i38 


KING  GRTMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


away.     The  people  were  pleased  with  me  all  the  time  and 

the  girl  let  me  stay  in  the  room  when  the  bird's  cage-door 

was   open  and   when   he  flew  out ;  and 

more    birds    came    there    to    live    and 

the  birds  had  little  birds,  and  they  grew 

big  birds,  and   I  was  a  friend  to  them, 

and  the  girl  got  a  very  big  cage  for  all 

the  birds  and    sometimes    she    let    me 

stay  in  there  with  them   and  I   did  not 

touch  one.     They  would  stand  on  my 

head    and    walk  on   my  fur,   and    I    let 

them.     The  boy  was  pleased    with    me 

and  the  girl  was  pleased  with  me. 

"  I  am  an  old  cat  now  ;  a  very  old 
cat.     I  do  not  care  for  balls,  or 
spools,  or    marbles,  or  knitting- 
work,  or  tassels,  or  strings.       I 


GOING   TO   JUMP    FOR   THEM. 


do  not  wish  to  jump  high.       I 

like  to  sit  by  the  fire  and  feel  the  warm  all  around  me. 

You  have  heard  my  story ! 

"  Mouseroun  made  a  sign  to  Phi  by  which  Phi  under- 
stood that  Mouseroun  wished  him  to  ask  Mistress 
Tabby  Furpurr  the  way  she  found  out  of  not  liking 
birds. 

"'  Excuse  me  to-day,'  replied   Mistress  Tabby  Furpurr 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


139 


to  Phi's  question.     '  I  am  weary 
repose.     Some  other  time  I  will 

"  Soon  after  this  Mouseroun 
great  Battle  of  the  Cats  and 
Upon  their  return  they  set  forth 
about  the  country,  and  again 
abode  of   Mistress  Tabby    Fur- 

"  As  they  journeyed  on  they 
lively  young  black  and  white 
they  met  be- 
fore, Twee- 
dledum and 
Tweedledee, 
called  Dum 
and  Dee. 

"They  were 
full  of  frolic 
and  good- 
nature, tum- 
bling over 
each  other, 
and  snatch- 
ing at  each 
other's   tails. 


and  must  take  my 

tell.' 

and  Phi  went  to  a 

were  long  absent. 

as  before  to  travel 

sought     out      the 

purr. 

were  met  by    two 

cats,  the  same  two 


X 


" '  Whither  so  fast  ? '  asked  Phi  of  them  as  they  met. 


140 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


"  *  To  catch  some  bugs  for  a  cat  with  a  large  family  of 
kittens/  they  said. 

"  You  are  not  as  sour  as  you  were,"  said  Phi. 

"'  Oh,  no,'  said  Dum  and  Dee.  '  It 
is  folly  to  be  sour  when  sweet  is 
better.     We  found  that  out.' 

" '  You  might  have  your  pictures 
taken  now,'  said  Phi. 

"  '  We're  so  happy  we  don't  care  to,' 
said  Dum  and  Dee.  '  Good  day  to 
you.' 

'"Beware  of  guns,'  said  a  faint 
voice  near  by. 

"  It  was  the  faint  voice  of  a  feeble 
cat  who  had  crept  under  a  bush  to 
die. 

"  'We're  not  afraid,'  said  Dum  and 
Dee.  '  We  have  our  nine  lives,  you 
know.' 

" '  Go  not  quickly  through  them  as 
I  have  done,'  said  the  feeble  cat. 
'  Beware  of  dogs,  beware  of  stones, 
beware  of  guns,  beware  of  shutting  up,  beware  of  boys, 
beware  of  drowning,  beware  of  hot  water,  beware  of 
stepping   on,    beware    of   wet    blacking-brushes/ 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  141 

" '  I  have  lived  eight  lives,  and  am  now  dying  of  a  spot 
of  blacking.' 

"'Tell  us  about  the  eight  lives,'  said  Dum  and  Dee;  and 
at  a  sign  from  Mouseroun,  Phi  made  the  same  request. 

" '  I  will  try,'  replied  the  feeble  cat,  'if  you  will  bear  with 
my  weakness.' 


THE    STORY    OF    THE     FEEBLE     CAT     AND    HER    NINE    LIVES. 

"  My  name  is  Pixie.  I  have  lived  my  eight  lives,  speak- 
ing  after  the  manner  of  cats,  and  am  now  in  my  ninth, 
which  will  soon  end. 

"When  I  was  small  and  very  young  I  was  dropped  in 
water.  The  water  washed  me  back  to  the  sand.  I  could 
not  stir.  I  was  kicked.  People  said  '  dead  kitten.'  A 
great  cat  took  me  to  a  good  place  and  licked  me,  and  I 
opened  my  eyes.  The  great  cat  came  many  times.  I 
should  not  have  lived  if  she  had  not  caught  butterflies  and 
grasshoppers  for  me.  She  got  very  good  butterflies. 
Sometimes  her  spotted  kitten  came  to  see  me,  and  some- 


142 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


A^i 


TO    CATCH    BUTTERFLIES. 


times  she  went  to  the  fields  with  her  mother  to  get  butter- 
flies and  grasshoppers  for  me,  and  one  day  she  brought 

■fa^asilHiisS^  me  a  very  big"  grass- 

^^jjj  <    ^%^  hopper. 

"  When  I  could 
stand  on  all  my  feet 
the  great  cat  carried 
me  in  her  mouth  to 
a  house  and  a  girl 
let  me  come  in,  and 
I  was  that  girl's  kitten.  She  held  me  a  great  deal.  Once 
when  I  was  crawling  on  the  floor,  the  boy  walked  across 
and  he  stepped  on 
me  so  hard  that  I 
was  all  out  flat,  and 
they  took  me  up  on 
a  shovel  and  car- 
ried me  out  to 
another  room  to 
stay  till  I  could 
be  buried.  Next 
morning  the  girl 
came  out  there  cry- 
ing because  her 
kitten  was  dead.      The  boy  came  with  a  shovel  to  burv 


SHE    BROUGHT    ME   A    VERY    BIG    GRASSHOPPER. 


:£-■  V     ,.-M 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  145 

me ;  but  I  was  crawling  on  the  hearth.  The  boy  said, 
1  Hurrah  for  Pixie ! '  and  the  girl  hugged  me  and  kissed 
me. 

"One  day  the  boy  took  something  off  the  stove, and  tied 
the  dog  to  it  and  told  the  girl  to  carry  me  to  ride;  and 
she  put  me  in  and  tried  to  carry  me  to  ride,  but  it  was 
too  warm,  and  I  was  scared  of  riding  in  it,  and  jumped 
out  and  ran  with  all  my  might  through  the  house  and  up- 
stairs, and  hid  in  a  closet.  The  closet-door  got  shut  and  I 
stayed  there.  I  had  nothing  to  eat.  I  mewed  all  the 
timej  but  the  people  were  far  away.  When  I  could  not 
mew  any  longer  I  dropped  down.  There  was  nothing  left 
of  me  but  my  skin  and  my  bones.  When  the  people 
found  me  they  took  me  out-doors  to  bury  me.  They  put 
me  in  the  sunshine  and  in  a  little  while  I  opened  my  eyes. 
I  was  close  to  the  hens'  clams,  and  I  ate  some  and  crawled 
away  from  that  place,  and  the  boy  carried  me  into  the 
house,    and    I    got  well. 

"  Mornings  I  scratched  on  the  girl's  door  and  when  I 
was  let  in  I  jumped  upon  her  bed  and  played  with  her 
nose  and  with  her  toes,  and  sat  on  her  and  purred  loud. 

"  A  white  cat  lived  in  that  house.  She  was  not  my 
girl's  cat.  She  was  the  small  girl's  cat.  She  could  not 
purr.  She  had  no  voice  to  purr.  The  small  girl  put 
the  white  cat's  ear   close   to    my  mouth  and  said,    '  Pun 


146 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


like  Pixie  ! '  and  the  boy  rubbed  her  paws  together,  to 
make  her  purr,  and  squeezed  her  tail  softly  and  stroked 
her,  but   she  did  not  purr.     She  had  no  voice  to  purr. 

"  The  white  cat  and  I  played  together  with  the  balls  and 
the  spools  and  the  hammock  strings  and  the  knitting 
work,  and  sometimes  Pomp,  the  dog,  played  with  us.  The 


dog  liked  to  play.  When  the  small  girl  stayed  in  the  ham- 
mock  to  sew  her  work  and  see  picture  books,  the  white  cat 
used  to  stay  in  the  hammock  or  close  by,  and  take  a  nap  ; 
but  the  boy  used  to  come  and  make  her  jump,  and  some- 
times Pomp  came   there   and  jumped   in    the    hammock. 


OR   THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


147 


"When  the  white  cat  grew  older  she  had  some  kittens. 
I  had  not  had  any  kittens.  She  was  taken  much  notice 
of.  The  white  cat  lost  all  her  kittens  but  one  and  as 
soon  as  that  one  could  run  she  and  her  mother  were  sent 
away.  Then  the  small  girl  held  me  and  I  was  glad,  for 
she  spoke  to  me  softly  and  touched  me  softly.  She  liked 
me  because  I   could  purr 

"  One  morning  the  white  cat  came  back  with  her  kitten. 
I  saw  her  standing  at  the 
door  to  be  let  in,  and  I 
knew  she  ought  not  to 
come  back,  and  I  tried 
to  drive  her  away,  and 
we  had  a  fight,  and  a 
cruel  woman  threw  hot 
water  at  us  from  the 
kitchen,  and  it  scalded 
my  head  and  I  went 
under  some  bushes  to 
die.  I  could  not  see ; 
I  went  by  my  smellers.  When  people  found  me 
they  called  me  but  I  would  not  come  out.  They 
brought  me  some  milk  and  a  piece  of  meat,  and 
I  ate  a  little,  and  when  I  could  see  with  both  eyes  I 
came  out,  but  my  neck  has  always  been  stiff  on  one  side. 


148 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


"The  next  time  I  almost  got  killed  it  was  by  a  heavy 
stone.  The  stone  fell  on  me.  I  liked  to  go  in  the  garden 
and  climb  upon  a  high  wall  and  see  what  was  on  the 
other  side.  A  Molly  girl  lived  on  the  other  side,  and  a 
horse,  and  a  dog,  and  two  great  cats,  and  hens,  and  there 
was  a  great  deal  there  that  was  good  to  eat.  The  Molly 
girl  wanted  me  to  play  in  the  sand  with  her  and  some 
times  she  took  me  down  from  the  wall.     She  made  holes 

in  the  sand  and  covered  me  up  and 
when  I  was  covered  up  I  jumped  out 
and  ran  and  then  came  back.  Some- 
times she  let  me  ride  with  her  Jemi- 
ma in  her  Jemima's  doll  carriage. 
"  A  woman  came  out  every  day  to 
S|j  give  corn  to  the  hens,  and  things  to 
the  two  great  cats,  and  talk  to  the 
horses.  I  did  not  want  the  hen's  corn. 
I  liked  the  things  that  were  put  into 
the  two  great  cats'  plate,  but  the  dog 
always  wanted  what  was  left.  The  two  great  cats  had  a 
plate  of  their  own. 

"  Once  when  the  two  great  cats  were  not  there  and  that 
dog  was  not,  the  woman  put  something  in  the  plate,  and 
went  away  and  I  thought'T  would  jump  quick  and  get  it, 
and  I  raced  along  the  wall  and  got  tangled  in  a  vine,  and 


CLIMB    UP    ON   A   HIGH    WALL. 


OR  THE  CATS  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


149 


jumped,  and  fell  and  pulled  a 
great  stone  down  on  myself  ;  on 
the  back  part  of  myself;  and  I 
could  not  stir,  and  when  the  boy 
found  me  and  took  the  stone  off, 
I   was  a  good  deal  jammed,  and 

I    could    not 

walk  with 

the  legs 

wrhich 


belong  to  that  part. 
People  said  I  must 
be  killed,  but  they 
waited,  and  I  did 
not  have  to  be 
killed.  I  walked 
with  all  my  legs. 

"  When  I  grew 
bigger  I  used  to  go 
into  the  Molly  girl's 
house  and  the  wom- 
an used  to  drive  me  away.  She  did  not 
like   me,  for  she  saw  me  get  into    the  hen- 


150  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

bouse  at  a  place  where  it  was  broken,  and  saw  egg-shells 
1  left  wnen  I  sucked  the  eggs.      I  could  not  eat  egg-shells. 

"One  day  I  did  something  bad,  though  I  did  not  know 
it  was  bad,  I  was  in  the  Molly  girl's  house.  Her 
Jemima's  dolls  carriage  was  on  a  high  place,  but  the 
strings  hung  over.  The  wind  blew  hard  that  day  and  I 
was  very  frisky  and  I  jumped  and  pulled  the  doll-carriage 
down  by  the  swings  and  broke  it,  and  dragged  it  about 
and  played  with  it  very  long.  When  the  Molly  girl  came 
there  she  cried.  The  people  came  and  drove  me  out,  and 
said  very  loud,  c  Scat  f  scat!'  A  cruel  boy  that  heard 
them  scatting  rae  set  his  dog  on  me,  and  that  dog  chased 
me,  but  he  would  not  have  touched  me  if  the  cruel  boy 
had  not  said?  '  Shake  her!"  When  he  heard  that  he  took 
me  by  the  threat.  Oh  Dum  and  Dee,  may  you  never  have 
anything  so  dieadful  happen  to  you  ! 

"The  dog  dropped  me  behind  a  tree  and  people  found  me 
and  said  I  was  dead.  The  girl  I  belonged  to  said  I  was 
alive,  and  they  waited,  and  when  they  saw  the  end  of  my 
tail  stir  they  put  something  on  the  sores  the  dog  made, 
and  the  grandma  woman  took  care  of  me,  and  I  got  well. 
But  I  would  lather  have  died  than  to  have  that  cruel  boy 
do  so  again,  Only  a  cat  can  know  what  a  cat  can  suffer 
from  cruel  boys.  Dogs  would  not  hurt  us  if  people  and 
cruel  boys  did  not  tell  them  to. 


'   wMm 

:  KV'f  ft 


I   DID   SOMETHING   BAD. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


153 


"  One  day  I  had  some  kittens  of  my  own.  We  were  in  a 
good  closet  close  by  my  own  girl's  bed.  Oh  I  was  proud 
of  my  pretty  little  dears!  I  wanted  people  to  come  and 
see  them.  But  when  people  came  they  said, 'Why  !  why! 
why!  The  cat  has  kittens  in  the  closet!  Take  the  cat 
and  kittens  away  from  that  closet ! ' 

"  They  carried  us  up  garret  and  put  us  in  a  box.  I  would 
not  stay   there.      I  #    /      *.    ,       s;    •  1,$%* 

took     my     kittens     •  S  M 

one  at  a  time  and 
carried  them  in  my     |' ■    ; 
mouth  back  to  the 
closet.     We      were 
put  up  in    the   box 


again  and  the  gar- 
ret door  was  kept 
shut.  I  got  out  of 
the  window  and 
carried  my  kittens 
down  by  tree 
branches,  and  got 
in  by  another  win- 
dow, and  soon  they 
found  us  in  the 
closet.     Then  the  boy  put  some  of  my  kittens  in  his  hat 


CARRIED  THEM  TO  THE  BARN. 


iS4  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

and  another  boy  took  some  and  they  carried  them  to  the 
barn,  and  I  went  there  too;  but  I  would  not  stay  there.  I 
knew  what  the  best  place  was,  the  best  place  was  the  closet. 

"  When  it  was  dark  I  carried  my  kittens  back  to  the 
closet.  Then  they  carried  us  down  cellar,  and  kept  the 
door  shut.  I  found  a  hole  and  made  it  bigger,  and 
squeezed  through  that  hole  with  my  kittens  and  went  back 
to  the  closet.  They  put  us  down  cellar  again  and  stopped 
up  the  hole,  and  kept  the  door  shut. 

"  One  day  soon  as  the  door  was  opened  I  slipped 
quick  between  somebody's  feet,  and  went  up  stairs  to  the 
grandma  woman's  room,  and  sat  by  the  fire.  The  grandma 
woman  looked  at  me  hard  and  said,  '  Poor  Pixie  !  It  is  too 
cold  for  your  kittens  down  cellar;  go  bring  them  here.' 

"  I  knew  what  she  said  and  answered  her  in  my  mew 
language,  and  went  and  got  my  kittens  and  she  made  a 
bed  for  us  in  a  basket  that  had  room  in  it. 

"  When  my  kittens  were  big  enough  to  crawd  I  went 
away  and  left  them  sometimes,  and  if  they  cried  for  my 
going  I  punished  them.  When  they  were  good  I  let  them 
play  with  my  tail;  but  I  always  kept  one  paw  ready  to 
punish  them  if  they  bit  me,  or  bit  each  other.  I  took  great 
comfort  with  my  dear  kittens.  They  understood  everything 
I  said  to  them.  One  was  taken  from  me,  but  I  tried  to  be 
contented  with  what  were  left. 


WHERE  IT  WAS   NOT  RIGHT  FOR  KITTENS  TO  GO. 


ISS 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  157 

"They  soon  grew  big  enough  to  follow  me  all  over  the 
house,  and  I  took  them  to  many  places.  One  room  was 
always  shut.  I  did  not  like  that.  No  cat  likes  to  have  a 
door  kept  shut. 

"  One  day  a  woman  went  in  that  room  and  worked  and 
moved  the  things ;  and  she  went  away  and  left  the  door 
not  shut  tight,  and  I  pushed  in  with  my  kittens,  and  they 
had  a  happy  time.  They  raced  and  scampered  as  if  they 
were  crazy  kittens,  for  there  was  a  high  wind  blowing  that 
day.  I  tried  to  keep  them  out  of  the  bed-curtains,  but 
they  would  go  there.  They  all  got  on  the  bed  and  raced 
over  the  pillows  where  it  was  not  right  for  kittens  or  even 
cats  to  go,  and  they  bit  the  fringes,  and  jumped  up  and 
clawed  the  tassels  and  some  of  the  tassels  were  so  good 
that  I  clawed  them  myself.  Almost  any  cat  will  claw  a 
good  tassel  hanging  down  in  a  windy  day.  The  kittens 
rolled  over  each  other  too  near  the  edge  of  the  bed  and 
rolled  off,  and  hopped  up  and  wTent  scampering  round  the 
room  pulling  all  the  things  they  wanted  to.  They  went 
up  on  high  places  and  tipped  things  over,  and  pulled 
things  down,  and  got  into  the  drawers,  and  Pomp  heard 
them,  and  he  came  in  there  and  jumped  about  and  pulled 
things  out  of  the  drawers,  and  gnawed  things,  and  played 
with  my  kittens.  They  would  not  mind  me,  and  all  I 
could  do  was  to  sit  in  a  chair  and  watch  them. 


i58 


KING  GRIM ALK I'M  AXD  RUSSYANITA. 


"  I  thought  I  heard  a  mouse  in  a  closet,  and  went  in 
there  to  see  ;  and  while  I  was  in  there  somebody  drove 
out  my  kittens  and  Pomp.  I  stayed  to  see  about  the 
mouse,  and  I  ate  something  bad  in  that  closet.  It  had 
been  put  there  for  the  mice. 

"  What  I  ate  in  that  closet  made  me  sick  and  I  was  very 
sick.  They  gave  me  medicine.  They  held  my  mouth 
open  and  put  the  medicine  down  my  throat  with  a  spoon. 
I  did  not  like  it.  I  would  not  cake  any  more.  I  went 
away  in  dark  places.  Sometimes  I  crawled  into  the  house, 
and  then  they  tried  to  make  me  eat.  They  could  not 
make  me  eat.  I  gew  weaker  and  weaker,  and  one  day 
they  said  I  was  dead.  The  boy  said,  'That  cat  is  not  dead. 
That  is  one  of  the  cats  that  will  live  all   her  nine    lives/ 

"  I    was    not  dead,    or   if    I    was   dead    I    came   to   life 


again. 


ONLY    TWO. 


taken     from     me. 


"  When  I  came  to  life 
again  two  of  my  kittens 
were  playing  by  my  side. 
Only  two.  The  others 
were  gone.  Very  soon 
even  these  two  were 
Not     one     of     them    ever     came 


back.     Kittens    that  have  been  taken   away  do  not  come 
back. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  A'JGHTS. 


o? 


"Now  that  I  had  no  kittens  to  need  me  at  home,  I  was 
free  to  go  out  and    meet    my   friends   on   fences    and  the 


THERE   I   SAW   A   EAT   HANGING   BY    HIS   TAIL. 


shed-roofs.      I   went  often,   and    enjoyed  my  fights  with 
them  very  much. 

"  One  day  when  it  was  cold  weather  I  went  to  a  swamp 


160  KING  GKIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

to  watch  a  rat's  nest.  Another  cat  had  been  watching  for 
that  rat,  but  I  meant  to  get  it  myself.  I  ran  all  the  way, 
?.nd  when  I  got  there  I  saw  the  rat  on  the  tree  holding 
on  by  his  tail  and  eating  what  he  could  find,  and  I  went 
up,  but  the  rat  slipped  down  the  other  side  and  went  to 
his  nest. 

"  I  had  better  have  kept  away  from  that  tree.  By  going 
up  that  tree  I  got  shot.  Two  boys  saw  me,  and  one  shot 
me.  I  dropped  to  the  ground.  The  boys  came  and 
kicked  me.  I  was  almost  dead.  The  shots  stayed  in  me 
and  they  are  in  me  now.  I  could  crawl  a  little,  but  I  was 
very  weak. 

"  While  I  stayed  there,  crawding  a  little  when  I  could, 
a  cat  came  out  from  the  swamp  and  ran  at  me.  She  was 
one  of  my  own  kittens  grown  up  into  a  cat.  She  had 
been  dropped  in  the  woods,  and  she  was  a  wild  cat.  She 
flew  at  me  and  she  would  have  damaged  me  very  much  if 
a  dog  had  not  barked  and  scared  her  away.  The  dog 
did  not  touch  me.  He  took  me  out  of  a  muddy  ditch.  I 
was  crawling,  and  did  not  know  I  was  close  to  the  muddy 
ditch,  and  fell  into  it  and  went  deep  in  the  mud  and 
water.  The  dog  jumped  in  and  pulled  me  out.  He 
carried  me  to  a  house  and  dropped  me  on  the  doorstep. 
Th.2  boy  came  from  my  house  to  see  me.  The  people 
said  I  was  dead.     The  boy  said,  '  No,  she  will  come  tc 


HE    DROPPED    ME   ON   A    DOORSTEP, 


x6i 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  163 

life.  She  is  a  cat  that  will  live  all  her  nine  lives/  And 
I  did  come  to  life.  The  boy  carried  me  home,  and  the 
grandma  woman  washed  me  and  fed  me  with  milk,  and 
put  me  in  a  good  bed,  and  I  was  soon  well  enough  to 
take  a  little  squash  with  my  milk. 

"  The  grandma  woman  used  to  hold  me,  and  speak 
softly  to  me,  and  if  I  jumped  on  her  shoulder  she  never 
pushed  me  off  and  said  'scat!'  If  I  jumped  up  there 
when  she  was  eating  breakfast  she  let  me  stay,  and  let  me 
taste  of  her  breakfast. 

"  I  wanted  to  thank  the  grandma  woman,  and  so  one 
day  I  brought  her  a  little  fish  I  caught  in  the  pond.  I 
stood  on  a  stone  in  the  pond  and  looked  down  close  to  the 
water,  and  when  a  fish  saw  my  eyes  shine  sometimes  it 
would  jump  up,  and  if  I  put  my  paw  out  quick  I  could 
catch  the  fish.  The  grandma  woman  was  pleased  when 
I  brought  the  fish,  and  she  wanted  to  sing  to  me.  I  did 
not  like  to  hear  anybody  sing.  When  anybody  began  to 
sing  I  got  up  and  walked  all  around  the  room,  and 
scratched  at  the  doors,  and  I  could  not  keep  still.  Some- 
times the  grandma  woman  sang  when  I  was  asleep  ;  but 
I  opened  my  eyes  and  began  to  walk.  Sometimes  I 
jumped  up  and  put  my  paw  on  her  mouth. 

"  One  day  the  white  cat  and  myself  got  carried  off  in  a 
bag.     It  was  going   to   rain,  and  we   were  washing   our 


164  KING  GR1MALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

faces  a  great  deal.  A  bad  boy  called  us  out,  and  we 
stopped  washing  our  faces  and  went  out,  and  he  put  us 
in  a  bag.  There  were  very  many  cats  in  the  bag.  The 
boy  carried  us  to  a  place  far  away  and  put  more  cats  in 
the  bag,  then  he  carried  us  to  another  place  and  put  more 
cats  in,  and  then  he  carried  us  all  very  far  to  a  strange 
place  and  let  us  all  out  of  the  bag  in;a  room  and  shut  the 
doors  and  windows  tight.       '■"    ,       '  \:> 

"  One  of  the  windows  was  broken  "a  little  anoV  a  great 
cat  pushed  the  glass  out,  and  we  ath-went.  through,  and 
set  off  for  our  own  homes  in  the  taim-but  I.^weht  in  a 
barn  and  hid  till  the  rain  stopped.  It  took  me  very  long 
to  go  home. 

"  As  I  passed  by  a  house  on  my  way  home,  a  man  in 
that  house  was  making  a  noise  on  a  fiddle,  and  I  ran  and 
jumped  up  on  his  shoulder,  because  he  was  making  the 
noise,  and  he  pushed  me  off,  and,]  ran,  and  he  threw  a 
wet  blacking  brush  at  me,  and  made  a  spot  on  my  fur. 

"  I  came  home  and  tried  to  lick  off  the  spot,  but  I  could 
not  reach  it.  It  is  far  off  and  my  neck  is  stiff.  Not  any 
cat  would  lick  it  off  for  me.  I  smelt  it  all  the  time  and 
felt  it,  and  it  worried  me.  I  could  not  eat.  I  grew  weak 
and  sick.  Sometimes  I  crawled  to  the  basin  and  lapped 
one  or  two  laps  of  milk,  but  no  more.  I  did  not  catch. 
Mice  came  near,  and  I  did  not  even  stir  the  end  of  my 


SHE  NEVER  PUSHED   ME  O^F   A.ND   SAID,  SCAT  ! 


i65 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGH2S. 


167 


tail.     I  kept  in  dark  places.     I   have  but   little  strength 
left,  and  with  that  I  am  now  crawling  to  the  woods  to  die. 


AND    LAPPED    ONE   OR   TWO    LAPS    OF    MILK. 


Farewell.  Beware  of  guns,  beware  of  dogs,  beware  of 
stones,  beware  of  stepping  on,  beware  of  shutting  up, 
beware  of  hot  water,  beware  of  drowning,  beware  of  cruel 
boys,  beware  of  wet  blacking  brushes.  Farewell.  You 
will  never  see  me  more.' 

"  Pixie  then  crawled  to  the  woods  where  she  was  after- 
wards  found  dead ;  so  dead  that  she  never  came  back  to 
life. 

"  Dum  and  Dee,  and  Mouseroun  and  Phi,  his  Wisdom 
Cat,  watched  Pixie  until  she  had  crawled  out  of  sight. 
Dum  and  Dee  then  frisked  away  to  catch  bugs  for  the 
puss  with  the  large  family  of  kittens,  and  Mouseroun  and 
Phi  journeyed  on  to  seek  the  renowned  Mistress  Tabby 
Furpurr,  who  found  out  a  way  of  not  liking  birds,  and  on 


168  XING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

that  account  had  her  picture  taken  and  set  in  a  pussywil- 
low frame,  and  who  had  promised  to  tell  the  way  to 
Mouseroun  and  Phi. 

"  They  did  not  find  her.  The  renowned  Mistress 
Tabby  Furpurr  had  long  lain  buried  beneath  the  lilac 
bush,  having  died  of  old  age,  and  alas !  without  revealing 
the  way  she  found  out  of  not  liking  birds  ! " 

"  Which  was  a  pity,"  said  the  lovely  Pussyanitato  King 
Grimalkum  as  she  finished  the  story,  "  since  now  our  race 
must  be  blamed  for  liking  birds  when  they  cannot  help 
liking  them.  Blamed,  dropped,  shot,  drowned,  stoned  — 
not  many  of  us  would  be  living  had  we  notour  nine  lives, 
though  not  many  cats  have  done  to  them  what  was  spoken 
of  in  the  story  the  cat  that  hadn't  common-sense  told 
at  Lady  Yellow  paw's  famous  party." 

"What  story  was  that?"  asked  King  Grimalkum 
quickly. 

"  Nothing  your  majesty  will  care  to  hear,"  answered 
Pussyanita.     "It  is  not  a  common  sense  story." 

"  1  say  I  do  want  to  hear  it,"  cried   King  Grimalkum 
"  I  don't  want  any  more  common  sense  stories.     I'm  tired 
of    common  sense.       I    insist    upon    knowing    what    was 
spoken  of  in  the  story  the  cat  that  hadn't  common  sense 
told  at  Lady  Yellow-paw's  famous  party." 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  i6g 

"  Your  majesty  must  understand,"  said  Pussyanita,  that 
probably  it  never  really  —  " 

"  I  don't  care  a  mouse-ear  for  your  never  reallys"  inter- 
rupted King  Grimalkum.      "I  want  the  story." 

"  Your  majesty's  wish  shall  be  obeyed,"  replied  Pussy- 
anita, "  but  your  majesty  will  perceive  at  the  beginning 
that  it  is  not  a  common  sense  story." 

"  Make  no  more  words  about  it  !  "  furiously  cried  the 
king,  "  if  you  do  I'll  —  " 

The  lovely  Pussyanita  made  no  more  words  about  it, 
but  hastened  to  begin  The  Story  of  the  Two  Charcoals 
and  the  Four  Spekkums. 


1111  -  "     IBfe^ftr 


THE     STORY     OF     THE     TWO     CHARCOALS    AND     THE     FOUR 

SPEKKUMS. 

"There  was  once  a  cat  who  had  six  kittens  of  exactly  the 
same  size,  two  very  dark  ones  and  four  very  light  ones, 


170 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


not  think  of  names  for  so 
was  an  important  matter, 
their  uncle  Thomas  about 
cle  Thomas    said    it    was 
tant  matter,  and  sent  her 
wise  and  aged    Goody  Gum- 
Gumbo   had   seen  much  and 
heard  much,  for  she  had  been 
alive     ever    since    the    days 
when  willow   trees   bore  real 
pussys    and    some    said     she 
was  picked  off  a  willow  tree 
herself. 

"  Goody  Gumbo  named  the 
two  dark  kittens  Charcoal, 
and  the  four  light  ones  Spek- 
kum,  and  they  were  after- 
wards spoken  of  as  the  Char- 
,    coals  and  Spekkums. 

"When  the  Charcoals 
and  the  Spekkums  had 
grown  old  enough  to  run 
out-doors,  it  was  seen  that 
one  of  the  Spekkums 
was  much  too  frisky,  and 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


171 


that  they  all  were  likely  to  be. 

"Their  mother  spoke  to  their 
uncle  Thomas  about  it  and  he 
said,  '  send  three  of  them  to 
school  to  learn  to  behave  and 
they  can  teach  the  other 
three. 

"  •  Send    three  of    the    Spek- 
kums    and     let     Frisky    Spek- 
kum     be     one     of     the    three 
I    will    see    the    schoolma'am.' 

"The     schoolma'am     said 

that 


^\ 


she 


4^  \\f  would  teach  three  of  the  Spek- 
<~4*  k\    kums  to  behave  if  thev  would 
go  to  the  school  well  dusted  in 
meal  bag  powder,  as   she   her- 
self always  did.     Their  mother 
said  she  would  attend  to  that 
and  three     of    the     Spekkums 
•3     were  sent  to  school  and  Frisky 
Spekkum  was  one  of  the   three. 
"  The  schoolma'am  took  them 
by    themselves    and   talked    to 


1 72  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

them  seriously.  She  then  placed  them  in  a  row  and  said  : 
'  Rule  first !  Sit  straight ;  tails  down  ;  noses  up  ;  ears 
flat ;    paws  hanging  ! ' 

"They  did  so,  but  Frisky  Spekkum  did  not  sit  as 
straight  as  the  others. 

"  '  Rule  second  !     All  stand.     Ears  up  ;    tails  up  ! ' 

"  They  did  so,  but  Frisky  Spekkum  sat  down  before 
she  was  told  to.  '  If  you  can't  mind,'  said  the  school- 
ma'am,  '  I'll  have  no  more  to  do  with  you,'  and  turned 
away  with  a  scowl. 

"'O,  do  have  something  to  do  with  me!  '  cried  Frisky 
Spekkum,  and  stood  quickly  on  her  feet. 

"  '  I  will  if  you  will  be  good,'  said  the  schoolma'am,  and 
turned  back  with  a  smile,  and  went  on  with  the  rules. 
'Rule  third  !  Sit  straight;  ears  up;    noses  down;  paws  up!' 

"  They  did  so,  though  Frisky  Spekkum  would  not  hold 
her  paws  as  high  as  the  others  ;  and  she  frisked  and 
caused  the  others  to  frisk. 

" '  When  you  have  learned  to  make  your  bows  and  say 
good  afternoon  properly  you  may  go  home,'  the  school- 
ma'am  said.  They  all  made  their  bows  and  said  good 
afternoon  properly,  for  all  were  anxious  to  go  home,  and 
Frisky  Spekkum  did  better  than  the  others,  for  she  was 
more  anxious  to  go  home. 

'•'"'  Now  go,'  said  the  schoolma'am,  'you  are  a  trouble- 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


173 


some  set  and  I  am  glad  to  be  done  with  you.     Scamper 
home.'     And  they  scampered  home. 

"On  their  way  home  they  saw  a  young  rat  walking  out 
with  his  parents, and 
went  behind  a  wall 
and  peeped  through. 
They  wanted  the 
young  rat  but  did 
not  like  to  touch 
him  when  his  par- 
ents were  with  him. 
The  young  rat  was 
telling  his  parents  of  a  beautiful  shiny  box  with 
beautiful  cheese  in  it.  His  father  said  '  My  child,  go  not 
near  that  beautiful  shiny  box  nor  touch  that  beautiful 
cheese.' 

"  The  young  rat  did  go  to  that  beautiful  shiny  box  and 
touch  that  beautiful  cheese  and  came  near  losing  his  life, 
as  my  story  will  soon  tell. 

"'The  three  Spekkums  went  home  to  dinner,  a  very 
good  dinner  of  milk  and  herring.  Their  uncle  Thomas 
was  there  and  while  they  were  at  dinner  a  kind  girl  pre- 
sented every  one  of  them  with  a  neck  ribbon.  The  Char- 
coals and  the  Spekkums  went  out  to  play  and  Frisky 
Spekkum  was  naughty  and  gnawed  the  others'  neck  rib- 


1 74  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  TUSSYANITA. 

bons  and  made  them  gnaw  hers.  Their  mother  spoke  to 
their  uncle  Thomas  about  it  and  he  told  Frisky  that  if 
she  did  not  behave  he  should  have  to  send  word  to  the 
rats  to  carry  her  away,  as  they  carried  away  Mab  Fizz 
Fuzz.      She  said  she  was  not  afraid. 

"The  two  Charcoals  went  to  their  uncle  Thomas'  house 
to  supper  and  the  four  Spekkums  stayed  with  their 
mother.  When  it  was  supper  time  their  mother  said  to 
them  softly,  '  Follow  me  and  I  will  give  you  something 
good.' 

"  They  followed  her  and  she  led  them  to  the  beautiful 
shiny  box. 

"'You  see  what  is  inside,'  said  she,  'jump  quick,  when 
I  lift  up  the  door/ 

"The  young  rat  was  inside.  He  had  eaten  the  beauti- 
ful cheese  and  wished  to  stay  no  longer  in  the  beautiful 
shiny  box.  He  sprang  out  when  the  door  was  lifted.  The 
four  Spekkums  sprang  after  him.  They  were  not  quick 
enough.  He  slipped  through  a  rat-hole,  though  Frisky 
Spekkum  was  near  enough  to  claw  his  tail  as  it  went 
through.  He  was  so  frightened  he  knew  not  what  he 
was  doing  and  went  straight  into  a  bottle,  and  there  was 
something  bad  left  in  the  bottle,  and  he  would  have  died 
of  that  if  a  friendly  young  frog  had  not  found  him.  The 
young  frog's  family  and  the  young     H's  family  had  been 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


m 


friends  ever  since  one  of  the  young  frog's  family  saved 
the  life  of  one  of  the  young  rat's  family,  and  that  was  a 
long,  long  time    before.     It  was  before  the  Janjibo. 

"  But  all  this  be- 
longs to  another  sto- 
ry and  cannot  be 
told  now,  for  there 
is  yet  more  to  tell 
of  the  Charcoals  and 
the  Spekkums. 

"  One  day  their 
uncle  Thomas  put  on  his  best  clothes  and  his  tall  hat 
and  got  a  sleigh  box  and  two  pair  of  rabbits  and  in- 
vited the  Charcoals'  and  Spekkums'  mother  to  go  sleigh- 
ing with  him.  Their  mother  smiled  and  quickly  put 
on  her  best  clothes  and  her  bonnet  with  flowers  and 
got  her  best  muff. 

"The  Charcoals  and  Spekkums  all  wanted  to  go,  but 
their  uncle  Thomas  said  so  many  would  be  too  many  for 
the  rabbits  and  that  he  would  take  three  and  take  the 
other  three  next  time. 

"  They  took  three  of  the  Spekkums  and  told  Frisky 
Spekkum  to  stay  and  wait  with  the  two  Charcoals  and  go 
next  time.  Their  uncle  Thomas  then  helped  their  mother 
in,  and  took  his  seat,  and  the  three  Spekkums  hopped  in 


i7S  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

behind  and  sat  looking  over  the  side  as  happy  as  they 
could  be.  Their  mother  told  them  to  hold  on  tight  for 
their  uncle  Thomas  would  soon  whip  up,  and  they  might 
fall  out.  Their  uncle  Thomas  whipped  up  and  the  rab- 
bits set  off  upon  a  gallop. 

"Just  as  they  were  setting  off,  Frisky  Spekkum  ran 
away  from  the  two  Charcoals  and  climbed  up  behind  the 
sleigh-box,  and  held  on  and  tried  to  get  in,  but  the  rabbits 
went  so  fast  that  she  fell  off  and  rolled  over  and  over. 

"She  went  back  to  play  with  the  Charcoals,  but  she  did 
not  behave  well.  She  was  too  frisky  with  them.  She  bit 
ears,  and  she  almost  bit  off  the  two  Charcoals'  neck- 
ribbons  and  made  them  bite  off  her  neck  ribbon  and  was 
so  frisky  that  one  of  the  Charcoals  would  not  play,  and 
went  away.  Frisky  then  took  the  other  Charcoal  with 
her  into  pantries  and  a  hen  house  and  other  places  where 
cats  ought  never  to  go,  and  made  her  eat  with  her  thick 
cream,  and  custard  pie,  and  other  things  which  cats  ought 
never  to  eat.     They  also  clawed  a  best  carpet. 

"  Their  uncle  Thomas  came  home  and  found  them  in  a 
cheese  and  butter  closet,  and  they  ran,  and  he  ran  and 
caught  them  by  their  tails  and  punished  them   severely. 

"  This  did  not  cure  Frisky  Spekkum.  She  was  still 
too  Frisky.  She  frisked  with  tassels,  she  frisked  with 
^'hip-lashes,  she  frisked  with  reins,  she  frisked  with  flies 


■:  .    ;/.  -_■  ■■;■■>  ;■•,'.'  ".;".i::-.:- 


iBMJtflam.WJWmaaih.Hi, 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


181 


she  frisked  with  rabbits,  she  frisked  with  dogs'  tails,  she 
frisked  with  pigs'  tails.  Her  mother  told  her  of  Mab 
Fizz  Fuzz  who  was  carried  off  by  her  tail  by  the  rats,  and 
told  her  that  if  she  did  not  stop  being  too  frisky  then  rats 
would  have  to  be  sent  for.  But  Frisky  would  not  believe 
there  ever  was  any  Mab  Fizz   Fuzz,  and  would  not  stop 


IN    A  CHEESE    AND    BUTTER    CLOSET. 


being  too  frisky.  Her  mother  spoke  to  her  uncle 
Thomas  about  it,  and  her  uncle  Thomas  said  her  mother 
had  better  send  her  to  Goody  Gumbo  to  be  talked  to. 
He  said  that  as  Goody  Gumbo  had  been  alive  ever  since 
real  pussys  grew  on  pussy  willow  trees,  she  wTould  know 
how  to  talk  to  her. 

■'  Frisky  Spekkum  was   sent    to   Goody  Gumbo   to  be 


l82 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


talked  to,  but  when  the  talking  began  she  made  believe 
be  deaf  and  not  hear  a  word.  Goody  Gumbo  kept  ear- 
trumpets  for  deaf  ones  and  she  gave  Frisky  a  heavy 
ear-trumpet  and  made  her  hold  it  till  the  talking  was 
done. 

"  After  she   was   talked  to   by  Goody  Gumbo,  Frisky 


GOODY    GUMBO    TALKING    TO    FRISKY. 


Spekkum  was  not  too  frisky  for  a  very  long  time.  She 
played  with  the  two  Charcoals  and  the  other  Spekkums, 
and  behaved  as  well    as  any  of  them.     They  were  al! 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


**3 


quiet  and  happy,  and 
Frisky  was  as  quiet 
and  happy  as  the  oth- 
ers. When  they  were 
playing  together  Fris- 
ky made  no  mischief 
with  the  tails  of  the 
others.  She  behaved 
as  well  as  the  others. 

"  This  pleased  their 
mother  very  much  and 
she  spoke  to  their 
uncle  Thomas  about 
it.  Their  uncle 
Thomas  said  he  did 
not  believe  that  Fris- 
ky Spekkum  behaved 
as  well  as  the  two 
Charcoals  and  the  oth- 
er Spekkums.  Their 
mother  told  him  to 
come  and  see. 

"Their  mother 
made  them  sit  close 
together,    in     a    row, 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANJTA. 


with  their  ears  all  turned  the  same  way  and  their  eyes 
all  turned  the  same  way,  and  their  tails  all  turned  the 
same  way  around  their  fore  paws,  and  Frisky  Spekkum 
sat  so  still  that  when  their  uncle  Thomas  came  to 
see  he  could  not  tell  which  one  was   Frisky. 

"  Not  long  after  this  the  same  kind  girl  gave  them 
all  new  neck-ribbons  and  their  mother  said  that  as  they 
had  new  neck-ribbons  and  Frisky  had  stopped  being 
too  frisky,  she  would  have  a  party.  Then  she  thought 
it  would  be  a  good  plan  to  have  them  go  to  singing- 
school  and   learn   something   to   sing  at  the  party.     She 

spoke  to  their  uncle  Thom- 
as about  it  and  their  uncle 
Thomas  said  he  would  try 
their  voices  and  find  out 
which  had  voices  to  sing. 
He  tried  their  voices  and 
found  out  that  only  one 
of  the  Charcoals  and  two 
of  the  Spekkums  had  voices 
to  sing.  Frisky  Spekkum 
was  not  one  of  the  two 
Spekkums  that  had  voices  to  sing,  and  she  did  not  go 
to  the  singing  school. 

"The  three  that  had  voices  to  sing  went  to  singing- 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  185 

school,  and  were  put  in  a  row  by  themselves  where  they 
sat  very  still  with  their  tails  around  their  fore  paws  as 
their  mother  and  their  uncle  Thomas  told  them  to,  and 
had  their  voices  tried  and  were  taught  to  sing  the  song 
of  The  Two  Tailed  Mouse,  every  word  of  which  was  as 
true  as  cream. 

"  The  party  was  to  be  in  a  barn-room  on  account  of  a 
large  basket  of  fish  and  lobsters  which  had  been  placed 
there,  and  it  was  to  be  an   evening  party. 

"  Before  it  was  time  for  the  party  to  begin,  the  three 
who  were  to  sing  the  song  of  The  Two  Tailed  Mouse, 
were  told  by  their  mother  to  go  to  the  barn-room  and 
sit  in  a  proper  manner  and  sing  the  song  until  they  could 
sing  it  well  enough  to  sing  it  at  the  party  and  please 
all  who  might  hear  it.  They  obeyed  her,  and  as  Frisky 
Spekkum  had  not  been  too  frisky  for  a  very  long  time, 
she  was  allowed  to  go  and  hear  them  sing,  if  she  would 
sit  still.  She  sat  still  a  great  while,  but  hearing  the  sing- 
ing and  looking  much  at  the  lobster-feelers  made  her 
want  to  be  too  frisky  and  she  frisked  with  the  lobster- 
feelers,  and  went  into  the  basket  and  frisked  with  lobster 
claws,  and  gnawed  them,  and  clawed  them,  and  gnawed 
and  clawed  some  little  fishes,  and  ate  all  she  could  of  the 
fishes  and  the  lobsters,  and  made  herself  sick,  and  could 
uot  stay  up  at  the  party.     She  had  to  go  to  bed  in  the 


1 86 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


hay- 
mow, 
and 
when 
she 
w  a  s 

asleep    she 
dreamed 
that     her 
name    was 
Mab  Fizz- 
Fuzz,  and  that 
rats  dragged  her 
off    by  the    tail   through  a 
place  that  was  too  small. 

"  She  woke  up  sorrowful. 
She  was  sorrowful  long. 
She  would  not  eat,  she 
would  not  run,  she  would 
not  catch,  she  would  not 
play  with  the  two  Char- 
coals and  the  other  Spek- 
kums.  Their  mother  spoke 
to  their  uncle  Thomas 
about   it,    and    their    uncle 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  t89 

Thomas  said   he  thought  that   dream   would  do  Frisky 
Spekkum  good." 

"  And  that  is  the  end  of  the  story,  your  majesty,"  said 
the  lovely  Pussyanita. 

"End?"  exclaimed  the  King.  "It  has  no  end.  It 
leaves  off  short.  Why  does  it  leave  off  short  ?  Why  does 
it  not  come  to  a  proper  end,  namely,  by  the  way  a  cat's 
tail  does?  " 

"  Because,  your  majesty,  it  is  not  a  common  sense 
story,"  replied  the  lovely  Pussyanita.  "  I  told  your  maj- 
esty at  the  beginning  your  majesty  would  not  like  a  story 
that's  not  a  common  sense  story." 

"  I  say  I  do  like  stories  that  are  not  common  sense 
stories  !  "  cried  King  Grimalkum.  "  Common  sense  makes 
my  head  ache.  Tell  me  another.  Tell  the  one  you 
skipped;  that  about  the  Janjan's." 

"  Your  majesty  means  The  Janjibo, "  said  Pussyanita. 
11  That  is  the  silliest  story  that  ever  was." 

"  I  have  always  wanted  to  hear  the  silliest  story  that 
ever  was,"  said  the  King.  "Tell  it.  And  let  it  have  ar? 
end,  or  you'll  be  sorry." 

The  lovely  Pussyanita  bowed  and  began  the  Story  of 
the  Janjibo,  and  of  the  Frog  and  the  Rat. 


HjO 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


,^,v 


§«^ 


^^r^rW^.d^ 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  JANJIBO,  AND  OF  THE  FROG  AND 

THE  RAT. 

"  Once  upon  a  time,  a  long  time  ago,  a  family  of  rats 
made  a  home  for  themselves  in  a  haymow,  and  a  good 
home  it  was.  Corn,  and  potatoes,  and  hayseed  and  other 
things  were  handy.  With  all  these  good  things  handy, 
one  of  the  young  rats  must  needs  walk  into  a  trap.  Two 
cats  had  long  been  watching  the  family,  and  when  they 
saw  this  young  rat  go  towards  the  trap,  they  sprang,  and 
one  of  them  caught  him  by  the  end  of  his  tail  just  as  he 
was  going  in,  and  pulled  him  out,  but  he  got  away  and 
ran  down-stairs,  and  the  two  cats  after  him,  and  at  the 
bottom  of  the  stairs  he  ran  into  something  with  a  big 
hole  at  the  big  end  and  a  small  hole  at  the  small  end.  He 
went  in  at  the  big  hole,  and  the  cats   went   in    at   the   big 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


igi 


hole  after  him.     He 

went  out  at  the  small 

hole.       It   was   just 

bi^  enougfh  for   him 

to  go   through,  and 

was  not  big  enough 

for   the   cats    to    go 

through,    and    they 

turned  round  quick, 

and  got  tangled  up 

in    each    other,  and 

went  out  and   went 

round    outside  and  chased  him,  but  the  young    rat    had 

jumped  out  of  a  win- 
dow. He  was  so 
frightened  that  he 
ran,  and  ran,  and 
ran,  across  fields  and 
hills,  and  got  lost 
in  a   boggy  swamp, 


WATCHING   THE   RAT. 


and 


a    great    snap- 


IN  AFTER  HIM. 


ping  turtle  would 
have  snapped  him 
up,  if  a  young  frog 
had   not  begged  the 


192  KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSY  ANITA. 

snapping  turtle  to  let  him  live.  The  snapping  turtle 
said  he  would  let  him  live  if  the  young  frog  would 
take  care  of  him.  The  young  frog  said  he  would  if  his 
mother  would  be  willing.  The  young  frog's  mother  said 
he  might  take  care  of  him  if  the  young  rat  would  promise 
not  to  eat  any  tadpoles. 

"  The  young  rat  promised  not  to  eat  any  tadpoles,  and 
the  young  frog  took  care  of  him  and  they  lived  together, 
and  played  tag  together,  and  hide-and-seek  together,  and 
tiltered  together,  and  did  other  things  together.  When 
the  frog  hid  he  croaked  for  the  rat  to  come  and  find  him, 
and  when  the  rat  hid  he  squealed  for  the  frog  to  come 
and  find  him.  When  the  frog  hid  among  the  cat-o'-nine- 
tails, the  young  rat  wouldn't  play ;  and  when  they  played 
tag,  if  the  frog  went  among  the  cat-o'-nine-tails  the  rat 
wouldn't  chase.  When  they  played  tilter,  they  had  to  tilt 
high  so  that  the  frog's  legs  need  not  touch  the  ground. 

"The  young  rat  was  happy,  and  had  no  wish  to  return 
to  his  family.  He  went  to  all  the  frog  concerts,  and  tried 
to  get  the  frog  tunes,  but  as  he  could  only  squeak  them, 
or  squeal  them,  and  could  not  croak  them,  he  could  not 
get  the  frog  tunes. 

"  At  last  his  family  heard  where  he  was,  and  begged 
his  aunt  to  go  fetch  him  home,  as  she  had  no  children, 
and  could  leave  home  as  well  as  not.     His  aunt  said  she 


*  «i*  *"»» -S!""* <~_  J     *    .   &g  3r-  -„  -  ,._*•-•  w.-,tf-»  ~  -■■■ 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


*95 


would  go  as  soon  as  news  should  come  from  the  King  of 
the  Cats.  The  King  of  the  Cats  was  expected  to  die.  He 
had  caught  a  bad  cold  wading  for  eels  on  a  damp  day,  and 
had  taken  to  his  bed,  and 
called  in  Doctor  Bowwow,  and 
Doctor  Bowwow  had  looked 
at  his  tongue  and  told  him  he 
could  not  live.  The  young- 
rat's  family  begged  his  aunt 
to  go  right  off.  She  said  she 
wished  to  wait  and  hear  of  the 
death  of  the  King  of  the  Cats, 
for  that  would  be  good  to 
hear. 

"  As  soon  as  word  came 
that  the- King  of  the  Cats  was 
dead,  the  young  rat's  aunt  set  off  to  the  far-off  swamp, 
and  found  it,  but  by  that  time  the  young  rat  had  gone 
with  the  young  frog  to  live  on  the  edge  of  the  pond.  She 
looked  all  through  the  swamp,  and  got  her  feet  wet,  and 
lost  her  way,  and  tangled  herself  in  the  swamp-vines,  and 
caught  herself  in  a  swamp-vine  string  and  could  not  get 
away,  and  there  she  stayed  until  the  day  of  the  Wonder- 
ful News. 

"  The     Wonderful  News    was  brought  by  a  travelling 


196 


KING  GR1MALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


kangaroo.  As  the  young  rat  and  the  frog  were  sitting  one 
evening  by  the  edge  of  the  pond,  a  kangaroo  came  leap- 
ing past,  and  stopped  between  two  of  his  leaps 
and  said,  '  Wonderful  News  !  Peace  between  the 
cats  and  the  rats  and  mice  !  All  friends! '  and  the 
kangaroo  leaped  on. 

"  '  Wonderful  news  indeed  ! '  said  the  young  rat, 
'  I  must  let  the  water  rats  know.' 

"  The  frog  said   he   would   attend  to 
that,  and  he  got  upon  a  log  and  croaked, 
~-  •  Wonderful     news  !       Peace    between 
the  cats  and  the  rats  and  mice  ! ' 

"  Other  frogs  heard  him,  and  sat 
3|Sg  upon  logs,  stones,  rocks  and  stumps, 
and  croaked, 'Wonderful  news  !  Peace 
between  the  cats  and  the  rats  and  mice!'  and  other  frogs 
heard  these  other  frogs,  and  croaked  the  same,  and  the 
great  bull-frogs  got  hold  of  it  and  bellowed  it,  and  frogs 
and  bull-frogs  in  other  ponds  and  swamps  and  bogs  heard 
it,  and  croaked  it  and  bellowed  it,  and  before  morning  th( 
Wonderful  News  was  known  to  every  water  rat  far  and 
near;  and  the  water  rats  told  the  land  rats  as  quickly  as 
they  could. 

"The  young  rat's   aunt    heard    it    in    the    swamp,  and 
jumped  hard  and  broke  the  swamp-vine  string,  and  set  off 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS, 


197 


on  a  gallop,  this  way  and  that  way,  and  the  wrong  way, 
and  lost  her  way,  and  away  she  went. 

"The  young  rat  said  he  must  travel  off  somewhere  and 
hear  how  it  all  happened,  and  he  and  the  frog  set  out  to- 
gether and  travelled.  Sometimes  the  young  rat  let  the 
frog  ride  on  his  back,  because  he  could  go  faster  by  runs 
than  the  frog  could  by  leaps.  The  rat  could  not  go  frog- 
back,  because  it  was  so  hard  to  keep  on.  When  they  had 
travelled  a  long  way  they  met  a  mother  rat,  with  her  baby 
in  her  mouth,  running  as  fast  as  she  could  go. 

"  The  young  rat  asked  her  to  stop  and   speak  to   him, 


and  she  stopped.  The  young  rat  then  asked  the  mother 
rat  where  she  was  going  so  fast,  and  the  mother  rat  said 
her  baby  was  too  sick  to  be  left  alone,  and  that  she  could 
not  stay  away  from  the  Janjibo,  and  she  was  carrying  the 
baby  to  stay  at  its  grandfather's  till  she  should  come  back 


198 


KING  GRIAIAIKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


from  the  Janjibo.     The  young  rat  asked  her  what  there 
was  to  be  a  Janjibo  for. 

"  She  asked  him  if  he  had  not  heard  the  Wonder- 
ful News.'  He  said  he  had,  and  that  he  wished  to  know 
how  it  all  happened.  The  mother  rat  then  said  that  if 
they  would  come  to  her  baby's  grandfather's,  they  could 
then  go  with  her  to  the  Janjibo,  and  on  the  way  there  she 
would  tell  them  how  it  all  happened.  They  went  with 
her  to  her  baby's  grandfather's  and  then  to  the  Janjibo, 
and  this  is  what  the   mother  rat  told. 


-  l  VSr1 


'<■% 


^v 


Stf  ,#^8^ 


WHAT    THE    MOTHER    RAT    TOLD. 


"  After  the  King  of  the  Cats  died,  and  the  King  of  the 
Cats'  son  had  been  made  king,  the  rats  and  mice  sent  to 
ask  if  the  cats  and  the  rats  and  mice  could  not  be  friends, 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


199 


so  that  there  might  be  peace  between  them.     The  new 

king  said  he  did  not  think  it  would  be  a  good  plan  at  all, 

but  he  would  see  what  the  dogs  had  to  say  about  it,  for 

does    had    the    name  of   knowing-  more  than   cats.      He 

picked  out  three  of  his  wisest  cats,  and  sent  them  to  the 

dogs,  and  the  dogs  picked  out  two  of  their  chief  dogs,  one 

named   Know  and 

the    other    named 

Quick,  and  the  two 

dogs  and  the  three 

cats  met  together. 

Quick  asked  Know 

what    cats     could 

live  upon    if    they 

did  not     eat    rats, 

and  mice.       Know 

said  that  if   cats   should  give   up  catching,    then    people 

would  feed  them  more.     People  kept  from  feeding"  them 

so  as  to  make  them  catch. 

"  The  wisest  of  the  three  wise  cats  said  that  dogs  were 
not  expected  to  catch  ;  they  were  fed  by  people. 

"  Know  asked  if  it  was  great  trouble  to  catch  rats 
and  mice.  The  next  wisest  of  the  three  cats  said  that 
if  he  should  try  it  he  would  find  that  it  was  much  easier 
to  eat  off  a  plate,  or  even  off  the  floor,  than   to   sit  halt 


j:/ng  grimalkum  and  pussyanita. 


the  night  in  a  cold  barn,  or  cellar, 
or  garret,  tired  and  hungry,  watch- 
ing rat-holes  and  mouse-holes. 
Quick  asked  if  rat-holes  and  mouse- 
holes  could  not  be  in  rooms  people 
lived  in  where  it  would  be  pleasant 
for  a  cat  to  sit  and  watch.  Know 
said  that  could  not  be,  for  rats  and 
mice  did  not  like  people  as  well  as 
cats  did. 

"  The  end  of  it  all  was  that  the 
dogs  thought  it  would  be  a  good 
thing  for  the  cats  to  be  friends  with 
the  rats  and  mice,  and  a  little  bird 
that  heard  all  the  talk  told  the  Kan- 


garoos. 


"  In  order  to  be  sure  that  the  cats 
and  the  rats  and  mice  should  do 
right  by  each  other,  the  dogs  said 
that  the  rats  must  give  up  a  baby 
rat  to  be  kept  by  the  cats,  and  the 
cats  must  give  up  a  baby  cat  to  be 
kept  by  the  rats.  This  was  done. 
The  baby  rat  was  youngest  of  a 
family  of  four  children,  and  the  baby 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  201 

cat  was  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  four.  The  dogs  said 
this  would  make  it  even. 

"The  three  cats  walked  in  procession  with  the  baby 
in  front,  and  their  oldest  sister  walked  after  them  all,  and 
the  three  rats  walked  in  procession  with  their  baby  in 
front  and  their  oldest  sister  walked  after  them  all.  But 
when  they  came  in  sight  of  each  other,  the  rats  were 
afraid  of  the  cats  and  went  behind  their  oldest  sister. 
The  oldest  sister  of  the  rats  then  took  the  baby  cat  in 
her  mouth,  and  the  cat  procession  started,  and  when  the 
oldest  sister  of  the  cats  came  to  the  baby  rat  she  took 
that  in  her  mouth  and  then  the  rat  procession  started, 
and  both  processions  walked  away,  and  the  baby  rat 
is  now  staying  with  the  cats,  and  the  baby  cat  stays  with 
the  rats,  and  all  is  well.  We  do  not  have  to  hide  in 
holes  and  under  floors  and  behind  walls,  and  our 
children  all  live  to  grow  up,  unless  they  get  sick  from 
eating  poison,  as  my  baby  did. 

"  And  now  that  we  are  all  friends,  the  cats  and  the 
rats  and  mice  are  going  to  meet  together  and  have 
a  Janjibo,  and  there  is  to  be  fine  music  and  the  tables 
are  to  be  spread  with  everything  nice.  The  dogs  said 
that  as  the  rats  and  mice  were  the  ones  to  ask  to  be 
friends  they  must  be  the  ones  to  bring  things  to  eat, 
and  they  are  working  with  all  their  might  to  get  ready 


202 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSY  ANITA. 


the  pies,  and  cakes,  and  jellies,  and  ice-creams,  and  nuts, 
and  sweet  corn,  and  cheeses,  and  eggs,  and  dishes,  and 
knives,  and  forks,  and  spoons.  We  shall  soon  see  them, 
for  we  are  near  the  place  where  the  Janjibo  is  to  be. 

"  As  the  frog  and  the  young  rat  and  the  mother  rat 
came  near  the  place  where  the  Janjibo  was  to  be,  they 
saw  rats  hurry  skurrying  as  fast  as  they  could  with 
cakes,  pies,  dishes  and  other  things.  They  met  gentle- 
men   rats    in    their    best    clothes,  carrying    knives,  forks 

and  spoons,  and 
looking  everywhere 
for  eggs. 

"  Three  of  these 
gentlemen  rats  in 
their  best  clothes, 
found  an  egg  and 
began  to  roll  it. 
'  We  shall  break  it 
doing  this  way,'  said 
one  to  the  others. 
1 1  am  afraid  we 
shall,'  said  the  oth- 
ers, and  they  stopped  to  think.  The  mother  rat  went  to 
them  and  said  :  '  The  shells  of  eggs  are  too  thin. 
Shells   of  eggs    should  be  thicker. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


2o5 


"'But  lean  tell  you  away.  Let  one  of  you  gentlemen  lie 
flat  on  his  back  and  hold  the  egg  with  all  four  of  his 
legs  and  let  the 
other  two  gentle- 
men draw  that  one 
by  his  tail ;  then 
the  egg  will  go  safe 
and  the  gentleman 
will  get  a  ride.' 

"  They  did  so. 
The  gentleman  rat 
that  had  the  knife 
gave  the  knife  to 
the  gentleman  rat 
that  had  the  fork  and  lay  down  flat  on  his  back,  and  held 
the  egg  in  all  four  of  his  legs  and  the  other  two  drew 
him  by  his  tail  and  the  egg  went  safe  and  he  got  a  ride. 

"  Next  came  a  lively  young  cat  with  a  pudding-bag 
string.  She  said  she  was  frolicking  with  the  rats  and  was 
running  away  with  their  pudding-bag  string.  She  said 
she  did  not  care  about  the  Janjibo.  She  did  not  care 
about  the  peace.  She  wanted  to  have  a  good  time.  She 
did  not  know  if  she  should  like  to  be  friends  with  the 
rats  and  mice.  Sometimes  it  was  good  fun  to  catch 
them. 


206 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSY  ANITA. 


THE  CAT   RAN   AWAY  WITH   THE  PUDDING-BAG   STRING. 


"  The  mother  rat  told  her  that  she  was  very  naughty, 
and  the  rats  could  not  do  without  their  pudding-bag  string 
and  that  she  must  carry  it  back  to  them.     She  did  not. 

She     went     dancing 
away  with  it. 

"  Next  came  a  great 
many  rats  with  a  pie 
so  big  they  could 
hardly  lift  it.  They 
were  afraid  they 
should  drop  it,  and 
they  held  it  up  with 
all  their  might  by  their  heads  and  their  backs,  and  their 
shoulders.  The  Pie-cutter  with  his  knife  came  close  be- 
hind.    The  young  rat  went  to  help. 

The  frog  said  he  should  be  willing  to  help,  but  he 
should  have  to  go  with  leaps,  and  going  with  leaps  was 
not  a  good  way  to  go  with  a  pie.  The  mother  rat  said  to 
them,  'You'd  better  set  it  down  and  cut  it,  and  then  it  will 
be  all  ready  to  be  passed  round.  Set  it  down  and  cut  it, 
and  you  can  rest  while  you  are  cutting  it.  Cut  it  first  in 
large  pieces,  and  then  cut  the  large  pieces  into  small  pieces. 
The  pie  must  all  be  cut  in  small  pieces  or  there  may  not 
be  enough  to  go  round.'  They  set  it  down,  and  the  mother 
rat  told  the  Pie-cutter  the  right  way  to  cut  it,  and  he  cut 


SgS5B^B^IfeiiggMfc*%^^ 


I 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  2«9 

it  the  right  way.  Just  as  the  Pie-cutter  had  done  cut- 
ting it,  the  young  rat  looked  at  a  light-colored  rat  that 
was  among  the  other  ones,  and  said,  '  There's  my  aunt.' 

"  It  was  his  aunt.  The  one  that  was  tangled  in  the 
swamp-vine  string,  and  broke  it  in  jumping  when  she 
heard  the  Wonderful  News,  and  got  away,  and  lost  her 
way.  She  did  not  find  the  way  she  lost,  but  she  found 
her  way  to  the  Janjibo,  and  was  helping. 

" '  So  you  are  my  nephew! '  she  said.  '  How  you  have 
grown !  Do  you  know  that  the  cats  and  the  rats  and  mice 
are  friends  ?  ' 

" '  Oh  yes,'  said  the  young  rat.  '  A  travelling  kangaroo 
told  me.' 

"  '  Friends  indeed  ! '  said  his  aunt.  Look  yonder.  Do 
you  see  what  is  doing  yonder  ?  That  is  your  little  brother. 
Perhaps  you  never  knew  that  your  little  brother  could 
take  pictures. 

"'Never,'  said  the  young  rat.     'Can  he?' 

" '  Yes  ;  he  can,'  said  his  aunt.  '  Yonder  he  is  now, 
taking  the  picture  of  a  Tabby.  He  has  plenty  to  do. 
There  is  another  close  by,  waiting  for  her  turn.' 

11 '  Why  ! '  cried  the  young  rat.  '  They  are  the  ver> 
same  ones  that  chased  me  when  I  was  a  little  rat  and 
made  me  run  away! ' 

"'Yes' his  aunt  said.      '  They  are  friendly  now.     What 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


are  you  going  to  do  ? 
Do  you  want  to  help 
us  get  ready?' 

"'  I  do,'  said  the 
young  rat. 

" '  Step  in  here 
then,'  said  his  aunt, 
'Step  in  to  this  Ice- 
cream Place,  and 
stir  up  the  ice-cream. 
Stir  it  up  with  your 
fore  paws.'  Thev  two  stepped  into  the  Ice-cream  Place, 
and  the  young  rat's  aunt  showed  him  how  to  stir  up  the 
ice-cream  with  his  fore  paws.  While  he  was  doing  this  a  cat 
peeped  through  the  door  at  him.  His  aunt  thought  by  the 
looks  of  the  cat's  eye  that  it  was  a  cat  that  had  not  heard 
of  the  peace. 

"  She  was  so  afraid  the  cat  did  not  know  of  the 
peace  and  would  eat  the  young  rat  that  she  caught  hold 
of  his  tail  quick  and  pulled  him  with  all  her  might  and 
they  ran  out  of  the  Ice-cream  Place  by  two  rat  holes. 
The  mother  rat  and  the  frog  were  waiting  for  the  young 
rat  and  he  travelled  on  with  them. 

"  That  cat  would  not  have  hurt  the  young  rat.  She 
did  know  of  the  peace  and  she  was  gathering  up  rats  for 


HI  I    "///r^^K  \  x 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


i]3 


young 


TAKING     UP    THE    TIRED    ONES    IN     HER    MOUTH. 


the  Janjibo.  The  young  rat  and  the  frog  and  the  mother 
rat  saw  her  afterwards  showing  a  great  many  rats  that 
had  come  from  afar,  the  way  into  the  Janjibo  and  even 
taking  up  the  tired  ones  in  her  mouth  and  carrying  them 


"  Three 
kittens  sat  watch- 
ing her  while  they 
waited  for  their 
mother.  They 
were  dressed  in 
their  best  clothes 
and  white  gloves,  all  ready  to  dance  a  jig  at  the 
Janjibo. 

"  They  were  waiting  for  their  mother  to  go  in  with 
them.  Their  mother  taught  them  the  jig  and  she 
was  coming  to  fiddle  for  them  to  dance.  They  were  in  a 
hurry  for  her  to  come  because  they  were  afraid  of  a  fierce 
black  rat  who  stood  near  by  with  his  gun.  The  fierce 
black  rat  had  been  ordered  to  stand  there  with  his  gnn  to 
keep  off  the  rabbits.  The  rabbits  had  been  heard  to  say 
they  did  not  like  the  peace  between  the  cats  and  the  rats 
and  mice,  and  that  they  meant  to  break  it  up,  and  meant 
to  break  up  the  Janjibo. 

"As  soon  as  the  mother  rat  and  the  frog  and  the  young 


214 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSY  ANITA. 


with 
know 


rat  went  into  the  Janjibo,  the  mother 
rat  met  with  her  oldest  daughter,  just 
from  home,  and  she  kept  with  her  moth- 
er and  the  young  rat  was  polite  to  her. 

"  A  very  great  number  came  to  the 
Janjibo.  The  supper  was  good,  and 
after  supper  the  ones  who  could  tell 
stories  told  stories,  and  the  ones  who 
could  sing  songs,  sang  songs,  and  the 
ones  who  could  talk,  talked.  A  mouse 
a  lame  hind  leg  said  she  hoped  all  cats  would 
of  the    peace    and    told  a  Spinning  Story. 


THE   SENTINEL 


A  SPINNING    STORY. 

4  She  said  that  one  day  when  she  and  her  sisters  sat 
spinning  in  the  barn,  a  cat  looked  in  at  the  window. 
They  did  not  run,  for  why  should  they  run  when  cats  and 
mice  were  friends?  The  cat  that  was  looking  in  the 
window  had  not  heard  of  the  peace  and  she  jumped  at 
them.     Then  they  ran  but  she  and  one  of  her  sisters   did 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


215 


not  run  quick  enough,  and  her  sister  was  bitten  in  the 
head  and  she  herself  was  bitten  in  the  hind  leg,  and  made 
lame  for  life. 

"Three  blind   and  feeble  mice  without   any  tails   then 
told  the  Blind  Mice  Story. 


THE    BLIND    MICE    STORY. 


"  They  were  born  blind,  and  were  obliged  to  find  their 
way  by  their  noses.  A  farmer's  wife  had  been  giving 
corn  to  the  hens  and 
some  of  the  corn  was 
left  in  her  pocket,  and 
they  smelled  the  corn 
and  ran  after  the  far- 
mer's wife,  and  she  cut 
off  their  tails  with  a  car- 
ving knife.     Now  they  could  not  run  very  fast,  for  no  rat 


2l6 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


can    run    fast     unless     he    feels     his     tail     behind     him. 
"  A  cat  of  the  name  of  Henry,  said  this  story  made  him 
think  of  the  Air-Ball    Story. 


•r~r$^ 


THE   AIR-BALL    STORY. 

"  Three  kittens,  Faw,  Sol,  and  Law,  were  once  play- 
ing in  a  yard  when 
a  short  boy  named 
Chickerchecker 
came  and  tied  air- 
balls  to  their  tails 
so  that  he  might 
have  the  fun  of  see- 
in£  the  air-balls  take 
Faw,  Sol,  and  Law 
up  in  the  air. 

"  When  Faw,  Sol, 
and  Law  began  to 
=■      feel  the  back  ends 
of  themselves   going   up   they  did    not    know  what  to  do 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


2.1*1 


to  keep  them  down  and  they  mewed  and  mewed  and 
stuck  the  claws  of  their  fore  paws  into  the  ground. 
Chickerchecker  was  much  pleased. 

"  Their  mother  was  the  other  side  of  the  wall  and  near 
enough  to  hear  them 
mew.  She  knew 
that  if  they  mewed 
so,  something  was 
the  matter.  She 
sprang  to  the  top  of 
the  wall  and  looked 
over  and  when  she 
saw  what  had  been 
done  she  was  very 
angry,  and  jumped 
down,  and  took  the 
air-balls  off  of  Faw, 
Sol,  and  Law's  tails  and  tied  them  to  Chickerchecker,  and 
Checkerchecker  went  over  the  wall  and  blew  into  a  tree. 

"  Faw,  Sol,  and  Law  were  so  much  pleased  that  they 
danced  up  and  down.  Their  mother  also  was  much 
pleased. 

"  At  the  end  of  this  story  the  singing  Tommies  sang 
the  funny  song  of  the  Bold  Young  Fishbone  and  the 
Gay  Young  Wishbone. 


*i8 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


It  began  with 

There  was  a  bold  young  Fishbone, 

Finnery,  finnery  fi ! 
There  was   a  gay  young  Wishbone, 
Winnery,   winnery,  wi ! 
and  ended  in  the  same  manner. 
"The    singing   Tommies  had  new  jackets  and  trousers 

and  new  gloves,  as  of  course 
any  singers  would  have  who 
were  to  sing  at  a  Janjibo. 

"  After  this  song  and  others 
were  sung  the  kittens  who  came 
to  dance  a  jig,  danced  it.  Their 
mother  played  the  riddle  well,  ana  they  danced  their 
steps  well  and  gave  much  pleasure  to  all  present.  AH 
present  were  happy  in  the  peace  and  no  doubt  the  peace 
would  have  lasted  to  this  day  if  the  rabbits  and  the  hens 
had  not  broken  it  up. 

"The  rabbits  and  the  hens  did  not  like  the  peace.  The 
rabbits  said  that  cats  must  eat  and  if  they  did  not  eat  rats 
and  mice  they  must  eat  rabbits.  The  hens  said  that  if  no 
rats  were  eaten  they  would  every  one  live  to  grow  up  and 
would  eat  all  the  corn  and  the  hens  and  other  fowl  would 
wear  themselves  out  scratching  for  worms.  They  said 
they  should  like  to  get  hold  of  the  frogs,  for  if  the  frogs 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS. 


221 


had  kept  still,  so   many  rats   would   not   have   heard   the 
Wonderful  News. 

"The  rabbits  said  they  did  not  believe  the  Lion  knew 
of  the  peace  and  they  meant  to  send  him  word  and  ask 
him  to  stop  it.  The  cats  would  have  to  do  whatever  he 
should  say,  for  the  Lion  was  the  head  of  their  family 
besides  being  king 
of  all  the  animals. 

"The  cat  that 
ran  away  with  the 
Pudding  Bag 
String  was  known 
to  think  not  very 
well  of  the  peace 
and  she  was  asked 
to    go  and   speak 

to  the  Lion.  She  said  she  would  go,  but  must  first  bor- 
row her  grandmother's  boots  of  swiftness.  Her  grand- 
mother was  just  taking  her  tea  and  felt  very  well.  She 
said  she  was  not  using  her  boots  and  was  willing  to  lend 
them  if  they  could  be  taken  good  care  of.  The  cat  that 
ran  away  with  the  Pudding  Bag  String  put  them  on  and 
went  to  speak  to  the  Lion. 


KING  GRIMALKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 


"  The  Lion  said  the  peace  was  the  funniest  thing  he  ever 
heard  of,  and  made  him  almost  die  a  laughing.     He  told 

the    cat     that    ran 
li  flUfe.  away  with  the  Pud- 

ding Bag  String 
to  tell  the  cats 
there  never  could 
be  peace  between 
the  cats  and  the 
rats  and  mice,  and 
never  should  be 
so  long  as  Lions 
were  Lions,  and  to  tell  the  rabbits  and  the  hens  and 
other  fowl  to  break  up  the  Janjibo. 

"  As  soon  as  the  rabbits  and  hens  and  other  fowl 
heard  this  they  got  together  from  all  parts  and  went 
leaping  and  running  and  flying  into  the  Janjibo,  crying 
'  No  peace  !  No  peace  !  The  Lion  says  no  peace.'  The 
hens  cackled  it,  the  roosters  crowed  it,  the  geese  squawked 
it,  the  turkeys  gobbled  it,  the  guinea  fowl  squalled  it,  the 
peacocks  screamed  it,  and  the  Janjibo  was  broken  up  and 
the  rats  and  mice  ran  away  quick,  for  if  there  wTas  no 
peace  they  were  in  dreadful  danger. 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  225 

;  The  young  rat  was  in  a  hurry  to  get  away  from  the 
cats,  and  the  frog  was  in  a  hurry  to  get  away  from  the 
hens  and  other  fowl.  The  young  rat  said  that  as  he 
could  go  faster  by  runs  than  the  frog  could  by  leaps,  he 
would  take  the  frog  ratback.  The  frog  threw  on  a  hat 
and  cloak  to  hide  himself,  as  he  had  to  sit  high,  in  plain 
sight,  and  got  on  the  young  rat's  back,  and  they  went  so 
swift  that  the  frog  lost  his  hat  off  behind. 

11  The  mother  rat  and  her  daughter  kept  as  near  them  as 
they  could.  When  the  young  rat  grew  tired  he  begged 
the  frog  to  whip  him  and  make  him  go  fast,  for  he  would 
rather  be  whipped  than  be  caught  by  the  cats. 

11  He  was  not  caught.  They  both  reached  their  home 
at  the  edge  of  the  pond,  and  left  that  home  no  more.  The 
young  rat  married  the  mother  rat's  daughter,  and  they 
had  many  children,  and  the  frog  married  the  frog  he 
loved  best,  and  had  a  large  family  of  little  tadpoles,  and 
the  little  tadpoles  played  with  the  little  rats  and  the  little 
rats  played  with  the  little  tadpoles,  and  the  little  rats  told 
rat  stories,  and  the  little  tadpoles  told  tadpole  stories,  and 
they  all  lived  happily  all  their  lives." 

"  And  that  is  the  end  of  the  story,  your  majesty,"  said 
the  lovely  Pussyanita.  "And  a  good  end,"  said  King 
Grimalkum.    "  I  knew  I  should  like  the  story.    Is  it  truly 


226  KING  GRIMAIKUM  AND  PUSSYANITA. 

the  silliest  story  that  ever  was  ?  "  "  Yes,  your  majesty," 
replied  Pussyanita.  "The  silliest,  I  mean,  of  our  kind  of 
stories.  Of  course  it  is  not  as  silly  as  the  stories  the 
little  tadpoles  told  the  little  rats." 

"Were  the  stories  the  little  tadpoles  told  the  little 
rats,  sillier  than  the  ones  the  little  rats  told  the  little 
tadpoles  ?  "  asked  the  king. 

"  Much  sillier,"  replied  Pussyanita. 

"Tell  them,"  said  the  king. 

"  But  your  majesty,"  replied  Pussyanita,  "there  were 
swarms  of  little  tadpoles  and  I  have  not  long  to  live." 

"You  shall  live  as  long  as  you  can,  you  lovely  crea- 
ture!" cried  the  king.  "Do  you  think  I  would  put  an 
end  to  the  life  of  a  sweet  young  story-teller  who  can  tell 
both  common  sense  stories  and  not  common  sense  stories  ? 
No!  Live!  Live  and  be  happy!  " 

"Alas!"  replied  the  lovely  Pussyanita.  "  I  cannot  be 
happy  when  so  many  of  my  kind  are  in  danger.  Oh,  take 
back  your  cruel  command !     Let  our  whole  race  live  !  " 

"  I  do  take  it  back,"  answered  the  king.  "  For  your 
sake  the  whole  race  shall  live." 

The  cruel  command  was  taken  back.     The  whole  rac 
of  cats  were  allowed  to  live.      Those  which  were  "  white, 
or  yellow,  or  which  had  more  white  or  yellow   hairs  than 


OR  THE  CATS'  ARABIAN  NIGHTS.  227 

dark  ones,"  all  these  as  well  as  the  "  black,  Maltese  and 
gray,"  were  for  Pussyanita's  sake  allowed  to  live. 

"  Here,  uncle  Fred,  is  your  Cats'  Arabian  Nights 
Story  Book,"  said  cousin  Lucia,  "  all  ready  for  the  chil- 
dren when  they  shall  come  next  summer  with  their 
fathers  and  mothers ;  and  I  hope  they  will  have  as  much 
fun  in  hearing  it  as  I  had  in  writing  it." 


' 


